Frequently Asked Questions
Basic Understanding on Digital Accessibility
General Background Related to Persons with Disabilities
| Q1. | What is the potential number of target beneficiaries for persons with disabilities? |
| Q2. | What are the barriers to persons with disabilities in accessing websites or mobile applications? |
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
Implementation, Assessment and Declaration of Conformance
| Q1. | Will the Government arrange any digital accessibility assessment and accreditation services for the private sector? |
| Q1. | What is the accessibility status of websites and mobile applications for public and private sectors? |
Basic Understanding on Digital Accessibility
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| Q4. | What international guidelines govern digital accessibility? |
| A4. |
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) have been developed over the years by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which consists of people from industries, disability organisations, government, and research labs from around the world. The guidelines explain how to make web content, including content used on mobile devices more accessible to persons with disabilities. The WCAG 2.2 guidelines: The WCAG 2.1 guidelines: The WCAG 2.0 guidelines: |
| Q5. | Where should I start to make a website or mobile application accessible? |
| A5. | Senior executives and managers, who are going to drive accessibility projects, need to better understand digital accessibility and engage relevant digital development contractors or train their staff to undertake testing of the website or mobile application in a structured way. The testing includes reviewing and assessing the website or mobile application to find out components and contents that cannot be properly communicated to persons with disabilities. In addition, they may consider having the website or mobile application to be tested by persons with disabilities so as to identify issues that are missed by other testing techniques. Arrangement should then be made to rectify the identified accessibility issues. Please refer to the Web Accessibility Handbook and Mobile Application Accessibility Handbookin this website for further information. To facilitate the sourcing of ICT professional services for the implementation of digital accessibility designs, we have set up a Digital Accessibility Designers' Cornerfor companies and organisations interested in providing such service for reference. |
General Background Related to Persons with Disabilities
Top| Q2. | What are the barriers to persons with disabilities in accessing websites or mobile applications? | ||||||||
| A2. | We had conducted several focus group discussions with representatives from disability groups. According to their feedback, some major difficulties they face in accessing websites or mobile applications are as follows –
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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
| Q1. | While the government websites have been conformed to the W3C WCAG 2.0 Level AA standard, is conformance to WCAG 2.0 Level A standard for the private sector already sufficient? |
| A1. | To keep in pace with the international standards and do more for the benefit of persons with disabilities, government websites, except archive materials, have been complied with the W3C WCAG 2.0 Level AA web accessibility requirements with effect from 1 January 2013. We consider that level A achieves only a minimum level of accessibility. On the other hand, while level AAA provides highest standards of accessibility, conformance to Level AAA may need substantial resources from the organisations under certain circumstances. To achieve the right balance, Level AA conformance would generally enable persons with disabilities to use a website. We hope that other public and private organisations would be aware of the importance of web accessibility design and conform to the W3C WCAG 2.0 Level AA standard for their websites as far as practicable. We also encourage organisations to adopt Level AAA standard, where appropriate, such as providing sign language for video and audio files. |
| Q2. | Is the requirement of meeting W3C WCAG 2.0 Level AA standard for government websites also apply to public organisations? |
| A2. | We have conducted several focus group discussions with representatives from disability groups to better understand the major difficulties faced by persons with disabilities in accessing websites. According to their feedback, persons with disabilities still encounter some significant barriers in accessing the websites of public organisations. As the government websites have been conformed to the W3C WCAG 2.0 Level AA standard with effect from 1 January 2013, public organisations are also encouraged to make their websites conform to this standard to the maximum extent possible, with a view to making website information and services accessible to all. |
| Q3. | If our organisation’s website has already conformed to the W3C WCAG 2.0 standard, do we need to enhance our website to conform to the WCAG 2.2 standard? |
| A3. |
WCAG 2.2, which was published as a W3C Recommendation on 5 October 2023, while WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2 are all existing standards. We encourage organisations to adopt some of the new success criteria of WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2, as and when required, in developing or updating the content of their websites to enhance accessibility for persons with disabilities. For the new success criteria in WCAG 2.1 and 2.2, please refer to the following links: |
Implementation, Assessment and Declaration of Conformance
| Q1. | How may an organisation test a website or mobile application for compliance with the W3C WCAG 2.0 accessibility requirements or the requirements in the Mobile Application Accessibility Handbook published by the Digital Policy Office (DPO)? |
| A1. | Depending on the importance and the utilisation of information dissemination by the website/mobile application, the organisation may request its service provider to perform various kinds of accessibility testing, including code scanning, visual review, manual screen reader testing and testing with other assistive tools. Organisations may also perform human testing by persons with disabilities. Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which support persons with disabilities offer affordable human testing services. Please refer to the Chapter 10 – Five Testing Techniques for Web Accessibility in the Web Accessibility Handbook for more details on testing website and the Chapter 5 – Testing Strategy for Developers in the Mobile Application Accessibility Handbook for more details on testing mobile app. For information about companies and organisations providing human testing services, please visit Digital Accessibility Designers’ Corner. |
| Q2. | What assessment services are provided in the market? Does the industry have sufficient manpower capacity and necessary skills in undertaking the implementation requests from the public and private sectors? |
| A2. | Digital technologies and related programming languages are widely adopted nowadays by the industry for developing websites or mobile applications. Meanwhile, the well-established W3C website offers, apart from developing the WCAG 2.0 standard, a substantial amount of support materials and resources in relation to digital accessibility. These materials include tutorials, planning and implementation techniques and evaluation tips, etc. Given the abundant supply of experienced digital developers in the industry as well as extensive online accessibility resources, many digital developers should be able to develop accessible websites or mobile applications and assess them accordingly. In addition, there are service providers in the market providing accessibility assessment services. Some non-government organisations (NGOs) which support persons with disabilities also provide human testing services to assess accessibility of websites and mobile applications. |
| Q3. | How may organisations declare conformance of their websites or mobile applications? |
| A3. | For websites, conformance claim is basically on a webpage by webpage basis. W3C provides at its website conformance logos for WCAG 2 Level A, AA and AAA conformance that can be used for displaying on compliant webpages. Please refer www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG2-Conformancefor information on using the conformance logos. Moreover, organisations are recommended to provide an accessibility statement with contact points in their websites for users to contact the person in charge of the website while encountering difficulties. For mobile applications, since there are no separate guidelines for mobile accessibility published by W3C, organisations may consider provide an accessibility statement, either within the mobile application or at the download page, to declare conformance to the best practices documented in DPO’s Mobile Application Accessibility Handbook. |
Accreditation
| Q1. | Will the Government arrange any digital accessibility assessment and accreditation services for the private sector? |
| A1. | Since we launched the Digital Accessibility Campaign (formerly known as Web/Mobile App Accessibility Campaign) in late 2011, we have been actively promoting the awareness of the private sector on digital accessibility through seminars, experience sharing workshops and resource portal. To further encourage their adoption, the Digital Policy Office (DPO) (formerly known as the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer before the merger) and Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) jointly organised four rounds of the Web Accessibility Recognition Scheme to show appreciation to businesses and organisations for making their websites and mobile applications accessible and provide free assessment and advisory services. Starting from 2018, the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited (HKIRC) has taken up to organise the Web Accessibility Recognition Scheme while DPO serves as the co-organiser and EOC as the independent advisor. The scheme has been renamed from the "Web Accessibility Recognition Scheme" to the "Digital Accessibility Recognition Scheme" from 2024. Under the scheme, websites and mobile applications of the participating organisations meeting the accreditation criteria will be authorised to display the award logos as recognition for their achievement in adopting barrier-free design, hence contributing to a caring and inclusive society. For more details about the Recognition Scheme, please refer to the Digital Accessibility Recognition Scheme theme page. |
Technical Issues
| Q1. | How should website and mobile application developers use CAPTCHA as a security implementation to protect the system from spambot while take into account accessibility needs? |
| A1. | According to suggestion of the WCAG 2.0 success criterion 1.1.1 – Non-text Content, text alternatives that identify and describe the purpose of CAPTCHA should be provided. This can be achieved through provision of alternative forms of CAPTCHA using output modes for different types of sensory perception to accommodate different disabilities. For example, audio CAPTCHA can be additional option besides the provision of visual CAPTCHA. |
| Q2. | How should someone developing a website using Ajax address the accessibility issues? |
| A2. | Many web applications developed with Ajax (also known as AJAX), DHTML, and other technologies pose additional accessibility challenges. For example, if the content of a web page changes in response to user actions or time-based or event-based updates, that new content may not be available to some people, such as people who are blind or persons with cognitive disabilities who use a screen reader. The Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite (WAI-ARIA) of W3C addresses these accessibility challenges by defining how information can be provided to assistive technology. With WAI-ARIA, an advanced web content or web application can be made accessible to persons with disabilities, especially dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript and related technologies For details, please refer to WAI-ARIA of W3C at www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria. |
| Q3. | Do we need to develop a text-only version of a website in order to cater for accessibility issues? |
| A3. | There are two approaches to facilitate accessibility of websites, viz. a text-only version in addition to the primary version (or graphic version), or including features in existing websites to make them more accessible to the persons with disabilities. According to the feedback in focus group discussions with some disabled groups, many persons with disabilities prefer visiting the graphic versions of websites, as they usually disseminate more information and services as compared with the text-only versions. In addition, if text-only version is adopted, organisations are reminded to keep the text-only versions updated and prevent asymmetrical contents in the two versions. When graphic version is verified to be accessible, text-only version may be considered to remove. |
| Q4. | How may PDF documents be made accessible? |
| A4. | PDF document is basically accessible if it is produced from text-based source document so that it is readable by Braille devices used by persons with visual impairments. Please refer “PDF Techniques for WCAG 2.0” for details at the following link – www.w3.org/TR/WCAG-TECHS/pdf.html For image-based documents, such as TIF files produced by scanning, should be converted into text-based documents with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software prior to producing the PDF document. To test a PDF document, various kinds of accessibility testing, including accessibility checking using Adobe Acrobat Accessibility Checker, testing tool such as PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC), Sortsite can be used. In addition, it is recommended to access the PDF document using a screen reader to ensure all contents are ordered in a logical sequence. |
| Q5. | It is quite common for a website or mobile application to have a statement which suggests appropriate software for viewing the website or mobile application. Is it relevant to mention accessibility in such statements? |
| A5. | Content owners are recommended to include an accessibility statement in their websites or mobile applications about how the content can best be viewed, such as the prevailing versions of several popular web browsers supported by the websites, or the screen reader supported by the mobile applications, as well as the contact points for users of website or mobile application to contact the person in charge while encountering difficulties. The fourth principle of W3C WCAG 2.0 states that content must be robust enough so that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, such as web browsers and assistive technologies. As such, content owners are suggested to try out their website and mobile application content using the prevailing versions of popular web browsers and may include the relevant recommended user agents. |
| Q6. | If a website or mobile application has an online map to show locations, e.g. locations of branches/offices, how to make it accessible? |
| A6. | Some websites or mobile applications use online maps to display the location of branches/offices. Persons with visual impairment may find it difficult to access the location information with screen reader because in addition to the branches/offices, other location information in the neighborhood will be spoken out by the screen reader as well causing unnecessary confusions. Therefore, the location information should be provided in an alternative means. For example, the website or mobile application should provide a separate list of all branches in text format to show the required information. |
Miscellaneous
| Q1. | What is the accessibility status of websites and mobile applications for public and private sectors? |
| A1. | The Government has developed accessibility guidelines for government websites and mobile applications with reference to the W3C WCAG requirements. All government websites are conformed to the guidelines and reached the accessibility requirements of the W3C WCAG 2.0 Level AA standard and all government mobile applications are required to equip with accessibility functions by July 2019. With regards to enterprises as well as public and private organisations, a total of 378 websites and 85 mobile apps were awarded in the Web Accessibility Recognition Scheme 2022-2023 for adoption of accessibility designs. The awardees include non-government websites and mobile apps which are frequently used by persons with disabilities. They cover different sectors related to daily lives, which range from transportation, banking, insurance, tourism, real estate, telecom service providers, shopping malls, etc. |
