What is accessibility?
Web accessibility means adapting the digital environment for all to view, navigate, and interact effectively with its content. The term Accessibility also refers to the recommendations of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which standardizes the creation and interpretation of online content and facilitate users' access to sites, whether they do or do not have some sort of disability. Through a series of adaptations, ranging from font size to resources used on the page, the websites are being prepared to meet the needs of its users.
Accessibility features of the Rio 2016
The Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games Site was developed with features designed to facilitate access for people with disabilities and reduced mobility.
- Modals (images or texts that appear overlaid on site content) and Flash contents are not used, due to certain characteristics that make it impossible for the visually impaired to access part of their content.
- Keyboard navigation via shortcut keys, so that users do not need to search for navigational buttons on the screen, and may focus only on the information.
- The invisible menu is the first navigation item for people with disabilities, enabling them to scroll through the pages in a more objective manner, directing them to the top areas, menu, and footer.
- All images are followed by a description, ensuring full understanding of what is portrayed.
- The font increase feature on internal content pages helps the portal adapting to the needs of every visitor.
Users can also use the magnifying tool from their own browser to increase and decrease font size:
- Press Ctrl + to increase font size;
- Press Ctrl - to decrease font size;
- Press Ctrl 0 to return font to its original size.