What does digital accessibility mean?
Digital content, services and applications should always be designed in such a way that everyone can use them – regardless of physical, sensory or cognitive limitations. However, people with impairments often encounter barriers in the digital space, such as:
- difficult-to-read content due to insufficient contrast
- difficult-to-use web pages and applications due to a lack of structure
- insufficiently accessible documents and forms without correct markup for digital aids
- incomprehensible videos without subtitles or audio description
An example: Visually impaired people find it difficult to recognise text if it has low contrast to the background. This is the case, for example, when a light font colour is chosen against a white background. Many visually impaired users use so-called screen readers when they browse the internet. These software products read out the content of a web page, with the headings of the web page forming the table of contents, so to speak. When creating a page, editors must therefore name the headings in a meaningful way and logically structure the hierarchy of these headings.
The goal is always the same: digital participation for all.
A university-wide project team, with the support of Team Barrierefrei, is implementing measures to improve digital accessibility at the University of Vienna. Project coordinator Philipp Köhn from the Coordination Digital Transformation staff unit of the ZID describes the basic idea behind the project: „In 2022, we began to raise awareness of digital accessibility at the University of Vienna and to provide information. In order for digital content and services to be accessible to all, creators need the appropriate expertise. With a comprehensive range of training courses, we want to support employees in acquiring skills for creating accessible digital content. Accessibility should be understood as a joint task that can only be achieved through the efforts of everyone involved."
A comprehensive range of information and training courses is now available on the intranet.
Guide to digital accessibility
The intranet pages on digital accessibility (in German) have been comprehensively revised and now provide a wide range of information and training: in addition to basic information, there are numerous practical tools. Hands-on lists are based on typical application scenarios and support website administrators and editors in particular in designing inclusive digital content.
Accessible web editing
Web pages implemented in the new TYPO3 at the University of Vienna already meet most of the requirements of the guideline digital accessibility: content can be displayed on mobile devices without any loss of information, can be operated by using a keyboard and meets the requirements for contrast. The information on accessibility also shows which content is not yet fully accessible.
To ensure that these web pages remain accessible beyond the basic framework, web editors must pay attention to accessibility when maintaining content, such as page structure, text, images or multimedia. The new guide for accessible content uses examples to illustrate what is crucial when designing web page content.
To the guide for accessible content (in German)
Testing digital accessibility
Existing web pages and applications can also be checked for accessibility. The guide explains which aspects are particularly important and uses examples to show how elements such as headings or link texts can be optimally implemented.
To the guide on testing accessibility (in German)
Accessible documents
To ensure that documents are accessible to everyone – including those who use screen readers, magnification software or other assistive technology – they must be designed correctly and be accessible. PDF documents play a special role here, as they are used frequently and in many different ways. PDFs are usually based on source documents such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint or InDesign files. Accessible design therefore begins in these formats.
The University of Vienna provides predefined templates for creating accessible documents. They contain uniformly designed and correctly formatted paragraph formats, for example for headings, body text, lists or captions.
To the guide for accessible documents (in German)
Creating accessible PDF documents with axesWord
axesWord is an add-in for Microsoft Word on Windows that can be used to automatically convert Word documents into accessible PDF documents in accordance with the PDF/UA standard. This preserves the meaning and logical structure of the content during export and allows it to be correctly interpreted by assistive technologies such as screen readers.
While Word itself only allows simple PDF exports and does not fully address many accessibility requirements, axesWord closes this gap. The add-in transfers logical document structures, alternative texts for images, table information, list hierarchies, hyperlinks and metadata completely and correctly to the PDF. In addition, axesWord checks the entire document for possible barriers and offers targeted correction tools.
To the detailed axesWord article (in German)
axesWord free of charge for employees
Employees can obtain axesWord for Windows free of charge via the self-service portal (via Uni data network/VPN).
axesWord courses
During the summer semester, u:rise is offering courses on how to use axesWord:
Accessible PDFs from Word (in German)
- 13 April 2026, 9:00–12:00
- 18 May 2026, 9:00–12:00
Courses and self-study course
The current courses on digital accessibility provide a practical introduction to the basics of digital accessibility. Specialised courses focus on the design of accessible digital content for specific applications.
In addition, u:rise offers a self-study course on digital accessibility (in German), which can be completed flexibly at your own pace. Training videos introduce tools and demonstrate how to use screen readers. Users also learn step by step how to convert Word and PowerPoint documents into accessible PDF documents.
Courses in the summer semester (in German)
Introduction to digital accessibility
- 24 March 2026, 9:00–12:00
- 19 May 2026, 9:00–12:00
Checking the accessibility of web pages
- 14 April 2026, 10:00–12:00
Accessible websites with WordPress
- 2 June 2026, 10:00–12:00
- 13 April 2026, 9:00–12:00
- 18 May 2026, 9:00–12:00
Accessible PDF forms with Acrobat Pro
- 27 April 2026, 9:00–12:00
- 1 June 2026, 9:00–12:00
Accessible social media content
- 13 May 2026, 9:30–12:00
Contact
If you have any questions on this topic, please contact the Digital accessibility project team via the Servicedesk form Check accessibility request (in Geman) or via wzg(at)univie.ac.at.