Accessibility

Website accessibility

Accessibility and useability have been key elements in the formation of the Yarra Valley Water website. As such, this website strives to achieve a web accessibility compliance level of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 [external site] Level AA in accordance with the recommendations of the Australian Human Rights Commission [external site].We are committed to providing a website and online information that are accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of location, technology or ability.

To demonstrate our commitment, we sought expert, independent accessibility testing by the Digital Accessibility Services [external site] team at Media Access Australia, who has assessed the website against Level A and Level AA of WCAG 2.0, an international benchmark developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Rigorous compliance testing was conducted in one round and in accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) [external site].

Known limitations

Below is a breakdown of website limitations found during the assessment which may prohibit visitors from successfully navigating or using the site. We are working on addressing all limitations to ensure an accessible experience for all.

Provide text alternatives for non-text content

It was found that improvements to some image alternative texts could be made to adequately describe the image’s content while not repeating existing surrounding text.

Create content that can be presented in different ways, including by assistive technologies, without losing meaning

Heading structure was found to be out of sequence on some pages, with heading levels skipped.

Make it easier for users to see and hear content

Choices of colour for foreground text or icons against background at times did not meet contrast requirements. This was mainly affected by the use of orange with white and lime green with white.

Make all functionality available by keyboard

Keyboard-only users will have difficulty navigating the Contact Us page, and iPad and iPhone users will not be able to user the skip-to content links on their devices.

Help users navigate and find content

There were some instances found of hyperlink text that was not uniquely descriptive as well as ambiguous wording for headings for page or section content.

Make text that is readable and understandable

A small amount of content is presented in languages other than English but is not programmed as such. This will cause confusion for screen reader software in announcing the text in the appropriate language and accent for screen reader users.

Maximise compatibility with current and future user tools

A number of issues were found during assessment which may prevent compatibility with current and future user tools (devices and software versions for example). These include unnamed button elements, and collapsible list elements not announcing correctly.

Mobile devices

Our website has been designed and optimised for mobile devices. The website has been tested on iOS and Android mobile devices and displays will differ depending upon the type of device and its orientation (landscape or portrait mode). Most functionality of the website is maintained for mobile devices.

PDF documents

The website contains a number of PDF document. Yarra Valley Water is aware that some are not optimised for use by people with vision impairments or screen reader users and is working to improve accessibility of PDF content on the website.

About this website

Yarra Valley Water strives to achieve conformance with WCAG 2.0 Level AA and in doing so, has been optimised to be inclusive as possible. The website and its content are constantly evolving and efforts are made to ensure usability across all aspects of the site. If you have accessibility issues, please contact us online or phone 1300 853 811.

Information for developers of how people with disabilities navigate websites using assistive technology can be found on the Access iQ website [external site]. For people with disabilities, information on inbuilt computer desktop accessibility features [external site] and assistive technology [external site] can be found on the Media Access Australia website.