Compliance status

We firmly believe that the Internet should be available and accessible to everyone and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstances and abilities.

To achieve this, we strive to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at Level AA. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities. Adhering to these guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to everyone: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairments, cognitive impairments, and more.

This website uses various technologies to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We use an accessibility interface that allows people with certain disabilities to adapt the website's user interface to their personal needs.

Additionally, the website uses an AI-based application that runs in the background and continuously optimizes its accessibility. This application fixes the website's HTML, adapts its functionality and behavior for screen readers used by blind users, and for keyboard functions used by people with motor impairments.

If you have found an error or have suggestions for improvement, we welcome your feedback. You can contact the website operators using the following email address: kontakt@gs-hude-sued.de

Screen reader and keyboard navigation

Our website implements the ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attribute technology along with various behavioral changes to ensure that blind users visiting with screen readers can read, understand, and enjoy the site's features. Once a user with a screen reader enters your website, they will immediately receive a prompt to enter their screen reader profile so they can browse and use your site effectively. Here's how our website addresses some of the key screen reader requirements, along with console screens of code examples:

1. Optimization for screen readers: We run a background process that learns the website's components from top to bottom to ensure ongoing compliance, even with site updates. In this process, we provide meaningful data to screen readers using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for active icons (social media icons, search icons, shopping cart icons, etc.); validation hints for form inputs; and element roles such as buttons, menus, modal windows (pop-ups), and others. Furthermore, the background process scans all website images and provides an accurate and meaningful descriptive alternative based on image object recognition as an ALT tag for images that are not described. It also extracts text embedded in the image using OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To enable screen reader adjustments at any time, users simply need to press Alt+1. Screen reader users also receive automatic announcements to turn on screen reader mode as soon as they enter the website.

   These customizations are compatible with all major screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

2. Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adapts the website's HTML and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website keyboard-friendly. This includes the ability to navigate the website with the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate drop-down lists with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, activate buttons and links with the Enter key, navigate between radio buttons and checkboxes with the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key. Additionally, keyboard users will find quick navigation and content skip menus available at any time by clicking Alt+1 or as the first elements of the website when navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by immediately moving the keyboard focus to them as they appear, preventing the focus from drifting outwards.

   Users can also use keyboard shortcuts such as "M" (menus), "H" (headings), "F" (forms), "B" (buttons), and "G" (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

Supported disability profiles on our website

• Epilepsy-safe mode: This profile allows people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures caused by flashing animations and risky color combinations.
• Mode for visually impaired people: This mode adapts the website for users with visual impairments such as declining vision, narrowing of the visual field, cataracts, glaucoma, and others.
• Cognitive impairment mode: This mode offers various support options to help users with cognitive impairments such as dyslexia, autism, stroke-related disabilities, and others focus more easily on the essential elements of the website.
• ADHD-friendly mode: This mode helps users with ADHD and neurodevelopmental disorders read, browse, and focus on the main elements of the website more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
• Blindness mode: This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen reader is software for blind users installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
• Keyboard navigation profile (motor impaired): This profile allows people with motor impairments to navigate the website using the Tab, Shift+Tab, and Enter keys. Users can also use keyboard shortcuts such as "M" (menus), "H" (headings), "F" (forms), "B" (buttons), and "G" (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

Additional UI, design and readability adjustments

1. Font adjustments – Users can increase and decrease their size, change their family (type), adjust spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
2. Color adjustments – Users can select different color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes for titles, text, and backgrounds with over seven different color options.
3. Animations – People with epilepsy can stop all running animations with a click of a button. UI-controlled animations include videos, GIFs, and CSS flash transitions.
4. Highlighting content – Users can choose to highlight important elements like links and titles. They can also choose to highlight only focused or hovered elements.
5. Audio mute – Users with hearing aids may experience headaches or other difficulties due to automatic audio playback. This option allows users to instantly mute the entire website.
6. Cognitive disorders – We use a search engine linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary to help people with cognitive impairments decipher the meaning of phrases, initials, slang, and more.
7. Additional features – We offer users the ability to change the cursor color and size, use a print mode, enable an on-screen keyboard, and many other features.

Browser and assistive technology compatibility

We want to support the widest possible range of browsers and assistive technologies so our users can choose the best tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we've worked very hard to support all major systems that account for over 95% of user market share, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera, Microsoft Edge, JAWS, and NVDA (screen readers).

Notes, comments and feedback

Despite our best efforts to enable everyone to adapt the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of being made accessible, or lack an appropriate technological solution to make them accessible. Nevertheless, we are continuously improving our accessibility by adding, updating, and improving options and features, as well as developing and adopting new technologies. All of this is intended to achieve the optimal level of accessibility in line with technological advances. For any support, please contact kontakt@gs-hude-sued.de

Notes, comments and feedback

Despite our best efforts to make the website accessible to everyone, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of being made accessible, or for which no appropriate technological solution is available to make them accessible. Nevertheless, we are continuously improving our accessibility by adding, updating, and improving options and features, as well as developing and adopting new technologies. All of this is intended to achieve the optimal level of accessibility in line with technological advances. For any support, please contact kontakt@gs-hude-sued.de