Accessibility limitations WCAG

Does Maglr comply with WCAG rules? Yes, but with the freedom of our creative possibilities it does require a few additional steps from the designer.

Accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.0) are used to improve the readability of content inside your website for a wider group of visitors. Your direct readers with a visual impairment will of course benefit from this, but Google will do so too. The most important feature of these rules is that you have to describe all elements in your page. Both Google and a person with a visual impairment cannot see an image, but will get an idea if the image is described through text.

Now we don't focus directly on websites with Maglr, but on creative visual publications. Where websites are usually pre-programmed (or consist of pre-programmed blocks), we give the designer as much freedom as possible to create interactive pages without technical limitations.

If you publish a publication with pages set up in the Pro editor, a lot is already set up automatically according to the ​accessibility guidelines. However, there are a number of things that rely upon the responsibility of the designer.

What should a designer optimise himself?

After creating a page, we offer a separate accessibility module within the Pro editor where the following components can be set:

• Determine reading order
  Elements in the Pro editor are freely dragged onto the canvas, in an often creative layout. Within this module you put the text in order so that a reading computer reads them correctly.
• Describe elements
  Elements added to the canvas must be described. Think of images, videos, graphs and slideshows where people, without being able to see the image, need to know what it is about.
• Use headings
  Mark titles within the text in different headings (h1, h2) so an user can quickly scan which information is important. A lot of visually impaired visitors scan a website by only reading the heading.
• Subtitles for videos
  If possible, add subtitles to your videos so that visitors without sound or hearing can understand the information of a video.

What is not 100% possible?

The free nature of our platform also has some limitations when it comes to accessibility rules we cannot automatically implement. If a project must 100% comply with accessibility rules, you should pay extra attention to this:

• Limited page zoom possibilities
  Texts in the Pro editor are absolutely positioned. For a designer, this means that headlines can be creatively displayed staggered from each other (like the design set-up of a print magazine). A disadvantage of this setup is that text cannot be enlarged, at which point the layout changes. Therefore, take into account using a larger reading text 18-20px where it is not necessary for a user to zoom the text.
• No automatic contrast
  Contrast is an important point within WCAG rules. Because Maglr is a design program, we do not place any restrictions on color combinations. A designer must be able to correctly assess this himself.
• Complex constructions
  The Pro editor gives a lot of freedom in setting up creative pages where popups or layers open upon clicks. If you are visually impaired, this can get complicated. Technically, we let a reading computer know that a pop-up will open, but if a designer uses combinations that are too complex (pop-ups in pop-ups), a visually impaired visitor will no longer be able to understand it. The use of these types of constructions is therefore at your own risk, while we do not limit these options in the editor.
• Animations
  Within WCAG you can work with animations, but don't make it too crazy.

Taking into account the above limitations, it is then perfectly possible for a designer to make publications that comply with WCAG regulations.