Accessibility of Croatian Public and Private University Websites Home Pages Valentina Kirinić 1 , Predrag Oreški 2 1 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Organization and Informatics 2 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Teacher Education Digital technologies in education Number of the paper: 28 Preliminary communication Abstract The provisions of the Act on the Accessibility of Websites and Software Solutions for Mobile Devices of Public Sector Bodies (Official Gazette 17/19, September 23 rd , 2019) determine “measures to ensure the accessibility of websites and software solutions for mobile devices of public sector bodies to users, especially persons with disabilities.” The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) require that information or user interface components must be presented to users in such a way that they can perceive them. It is a legal but also a moral obligation of all web content creators which must be fulfilled in order to ensure accessibility to all users. This paper presents an analysis of the website accessibility of Croatian public and private universities with the aim of achieving, improving and promoting web accessibility and digital inclusion. The research sample consists of 9 public and 3 private Croatian universities’ websites home pages. Several tools are used to analyse their accessibility. In the research presented, methods of analysis, experiment, descriptive statistics and synthesis have been used. The results of checking the accessibility of Croatian public and private universities’ websites home pages, classification and ranking of the most common problems regarding web accessibility, i.e. non-compliance with WCAG, and guidelines to improve the accessibility of the web content have been stated. The analysis shows that the most common discrepancies are: lack of alternative descriptions of images, lack of discernible link names and inadequate colour contrast. The authors conclude that it is important to promote web accessibility in order to improve digital inclusion in education and that all stakeholders creating web content or user interface components contribute to this. Key words accessibility check tools; digital inclusion; special needs; accessibility improvement; higher education Introduction The number of students in higher education with a known disability is increasing, state Hubble and Bolton in their briefing paper (Hubble & Bolton, 2021, p. 3). In the paper it is emphasized that according to the data Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects on disabilities that students have, in 2019/20 332,300 (17.3%) home students in the UK said they had a disability of some kind, which is an increase of 47% compared to 2014/15. The situation is similar in Croatia (Kiš-Glavaš, 2016, p. 3). According to the „National Strategy for Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities 2021 – 2027 of Republic of Croatia“ draft document (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy & Ministry of Defence, 2021) there are public policy priorities which refer to achieving equal participation of persons with disabilities in higher education: 1st Priority: Inclusive upbringing and education and employment of persons with disabilities, and 3rd Priority: Ensuring the accessibility of basic social infrastructure and the content of public life, and strengthening security in crisis situations, which means accessibility of: physical environment, transport, and information and communication, including information and communication technologies and systems of other content and services open or intended for the public. Since we literally live online, the need to check the accessibility of Croatian public and private university websites has emerged as one of the global and obvious indicators of the wider inclusion of children / students with disabilities and the inclusivity of Croatian higher education. Many authors focus the need for the accessibility of university websites and/or their evaluation, with conclusions emphasising a low, problematic level of web accessibility of university websites (Acosta-Vargas, Luján-Mora, & Salvador-Ullauri, 2016; Kamal, Alsmadi, Wahsheh, & Al-Kabi, 2016; İşeri, Uyar, & İlhan, 2017; Agangiba, Nketiah, & Agangiba, 2017; Acosta-Vargas, Acosta & Lujan-Mora, 2018; Laufer Nir, & Rimmerman, 2018; Ismail, & Kuppusamy, 2019; Ismail, Kuppusamy, & Paiva, 2020; AlMeraj, Boujarwah, Alhuwail, & Qadri, 2021; Máñez-Carvajal, Cervera-Mérida, & Fernández-Piqueras, 2021). So far, there is no such study in Croatia. Web accessibility is undoubtedly something that must be ensured in every aspect of our (digital) life. According to the Web Accessibility Initiative (Web Accessibility Initiative - WAI, 2021) web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them, specifically, people can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web as well as contribute to the Web. Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the web, including: auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech and visual ones. It has to be emphasized that web accessibility also benefits people without disabilities, such as those using mobile phones, smart watches, smart TVs, and other devices with small screens, different input modes, etc., older people with changing abilities due to ageing, people with “temporary disabilities” such as a broken arm or lost glasses, people with “situational limitations” such as in bright sunlight or in an environment where they cannot listen to audio, people using a slow Internet connection, or who have limited or expensive bandwidth (Web Accessibility Initiative - WAI, 2021). In general, accessibility of websites is regulated primarily by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (W3C, 2022a) published also as an ISO/IEC standard ISO/IEC 40500:2012 Information Technology — W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (ISO/IEC, 2012)), as well as other standards and technical specifications provided by W3C (W3C, 2022b). There is also a harmonised European standard - ETSI, CEN, CENELEC standard EN 301 549 V3.2.1 Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services (ETSI, CEN & CENELEC, 2021) focusing on broader aspects of digital/ICT accessibility. In Croatia, web accessibility is regulated by the Act on the Accessibility of Websites and Software Solutions for Mobile Devices of Public Sector Bodies (Hrvatski sabor, 2019). However, WCAG is recognised as the basic document to define accessibility principles - 4 principles (W3C, 2022c) as follows: “Perceivable - Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. This means that users must be able to perceive the information being presented (it can't be invisible to all of their senses) Operable - User interface components and navigation must be operable. This means that users must be able to operate the interface (the interface cannot require interaction that a user cannot perform) Understandable - Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable. This means that users must be able to understand the information as well as the operation of the user interface (the content or operation cannot be beyond their understanding) Robust - Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. This means that users must be able to access the content as technologies advance (as technologies and user agents evolve, the content should remain accessible)”. The examples of Accessibility Principles are as follows (W3C, 2022d): “Perceivable information and user interface Text alternatives for non-text content Text alternatives are equivalents for non-text content. Examples include: Short equivalents for images, including icons, buttons, and graphics Description of data represented on charts, diagrams, and illustrations Brief descriptions of non-text content such as audio and video files Labels for form controls, input, and other user interface components Text alternatives convey the purpose of an image or function to provide an equivalent user experience. For instance, an appropriate text alternative for a search button would be “search” rather than “magnifying lens”. Text alternatives can be presented in a variety of ways. For instance, they can be read aloud for people who cannot see the screen and for people with reading difficulties, enlarged to custom text sizes, or displayed on braille devices. Text alternatives serve as labels for controls and functionality to aid keyboard navigation and navigation by voice recognition (speech input). They also act as labels to identify audio, video, and files in other formats, as well as applications that are embedded as part of a website.” Methodology Aims This paper presents an analysis of the website home page accessibility of Croatian public and private universities with the aim of achieving, improving and promoting web accessibility and digital inclusion. The results of analysis would show the state of the art of web accessibility in HEIs - institutions that should be leaders in practising and promoting web/digital accessibility and digital inclusion. The analysis aims to answer the question whether all Croatian public and private universities websites home pages comply with web accessibility guidelines stated in WCAG. Methods and Instruments The research sample consists of 9 public and 3 private Croatian universities’ websites home pages. Several software tools are used to analyse their accessibility. In the research presented, methods of analysis, experiment, descriptive statistics and synthesis have been used. Three software tools chosen for the accessibility analysis are from the Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool List ( https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/ ) and analyse the web content according to WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1: Google Lighthouse - https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse/ (WCAG 2.0) TAWDis - https://www.tawdis.net (WCAG 2.0) Accessibility Checker - https://www.accessibilitychecker.org/ (WCAG 2.1) They are chosen as they are free, easy to use as an online web service or install as a web browser extension. The 9 public and 3 private Croatian universities’ websites have been checked by all three tools under the same conditions at the same time (January, 2022). Web Accessibility Tools Three web accessibility analysis tools present its findings on different levels of detail. Lighthouse gives a compliance index and a list of found issues (i.e. non-compliances with WCAG), mentioning them only once regardless of the number of actual occurrences on the analysed website. An example of a website accessibility analysis result obtained from this software tool is as follows: “Accessibility - 95 CONTRAST Background and foreground colors do not have a sufficient contrast ratio. These are opportunities to improve the legibility of your content. NAMES AND LABELS Links do not have a discernible name These are opportunities to improve the semantics of the controls in your application. This may enhance the experience for users of assistive technology, like a screen reader.” Lighthouse tests the website for performance, best practices, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and PWA (Progressive Web App) as well. TAWdis lists and counts its findings in more detail, guideline by guideline. There is a total number of problems found, and the tool classifies them on the success criteria type (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust). A part of a website accessibility analysis result is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. A part of a website accessibility analysis by TAWdis software tool The Accessibility Checker software tool gives the score (from 0 to 100), and gives a number and a list of different issues classified as urgent or secondary (in percentage as well). Score of 95 and over means that the website is compliant with WCAG accessibility criteria. An example of a website accessibility analysis result is as follows: “Status: NOT COMPLIANT Score: 38 Urgent Issues: 2 (7%) Secondary issues: 24 (86%) Passed elements: 2 (7%) Urgent issues (2): Visual & motor - Document Doesn’t Have A