Equal opportunity is a fundamental human right. Application forms and job postings can inadvertently create barriers – for example, through requirements for skills, technologies, or knowledge that not all applicants possess equally. To avoid this, access should be designed to be as accessible as possible. Learn more here and feel free to check out the Frequently Asked Questions about Accessibility at d.vinci.
Typical Barriers
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Technical Requirements
- High-speed internet is required to load high-resolution content
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Design Challenges
- Insufficient color contrasts
- Red-green combinations to differentiate areas or groupings
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Language and Terminological Barriers
- Complex terminology without universally understandable explanations
- Internal terms that are not self-explanatory
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Usability and Feedback
- Mouse-only navigation (missing keyboard navigation)
- Unclear error messages or purely visual feedback without text
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Security Checks
- CAPTCHA only visual without accessible alternative
Testing Service
Want to achieve the best results?
We offer a testing service for accessibility. Together, we review the pages visible to your applicants and discuss what can be optimized.
Just contact us.
Requirements for Accessible Web Content
The standard WCAG 2.1 applies to web content with levels A (minimum requirement) – which we ensure in the application process –, AA (recommended, your responsibility), and AAA (special requirements). For WCAG 2.1 Level AA, sufficient color contrasts are crucial (e.g., 4.5:1 for body text).
What is already accessible at d.vinci (WCAG 2.1 Level A)?
The following areas in the application process are accessible and technically prepared:
Features
- Screen reader support: For all areas not customizable by customers
- Alt texts: Fields for customer-created content are available; non-configurable elements (e.g., logo) are provided with suitable alternative texts
- Keyboard navigation: The application questionnaire is fully usable without a mouse (including filling out, uploads, submitting)
- Focus and tab order: Visible and logically structured
- Zoom: Content can be scaled up to 200% without information loss
- Error messages: Described textually, not only recognizable by color/symbol
- Form field labels: Standard fields are clear and understandable; for your custom fields, you are responsible
- Time limits: No hard-coded, form-internal timeouts; session timeout is 30 minutes since the last user activity
- CAPTCHA: In the d.vinci application questionnaire, only a visual CAPTCHA is available; the decision to use it is yours (consider possible barriers)
What do you need for WCAG 2.1 Level AA?
Compliance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA largely depends on the design of your career page and job posting:
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Fonts
Easily readable fonts, sufficient size, and line spacing -
Colors
Sufficient contrasts (e.g., 4.5:1 for body text) -
Images and media
Meaningful alternative texts, no purely informative color communication -
Content
Clear language, avoidance of unnecessary complexity
What can you do to further improve accessibility?
Review the design of your career page and job postings (fonts, colors, images) and test your career portal with suitable tools such as:
- Lighthouse (Google Chrome)
- WAVE (free browser plugin)
- contrast-ratio.com (contrast testing for text-background combinations)
Documents and Email Attachments (PDFs/Templates)
Accessible email attachments and your own templates/PDFs are your responsibility.
d.vinci provides a digital form (via questionnaires) for the structured query of additional information.
Notes on Website Plugins
We strongly advise against using additional website plugins. Many tools promise simple solutions but can create additional barriers or conflict with system assistive tools. Applicants typically use the integrated tools of operating systems and browsers.
How our customers use this
The areas we have designed to be accessible are, of course, used. Some customers further enhance accessibility by:
- Design adjustments: Optimizing fonts, colors, and images on career pages and in job postings
- Practical tests: Using tools like contrast-ratio.com, Lighthouse, and WAVE to check contrasts, readability, and usability