Repository

This resource repository provides a list of best practices for website owners. Its primary goal is to help them build feedback mechanisms that users can use with ease, and through that, to support people with disabilities to be more independent and provide relevant and actionable feedback on web accessibility issues. The repository is principally for public sector bodies, but it also gives a useful set of information for Organisations of Persons with Disabilities and Vocational Education Training providers to use it in future training on how to provide actionable accessibility feedback.

The document lists best practices for different parts and elements of the feedback mechanism. Many of them are relevant for all mechanisms (e.g. the best practices on the Accessibility statement), others are focusing on a group of feedback channels (e.g. for written feedback, like e-mail and forms), or only on one feedback method (e.g. uploading files into forms).

A public sector body or any other website owner can use a coherent set of these practices to improve the quality of feedback. And probably also the quantity.

UPowerWAD Best Practice Repository (PDF, 3 MB), opens in new window

When creating the repository, we were focusing both on user preferences and public sector practices. For the user preferences we used the knowledge gained from user input to the research we did for the methodological toolkit. To find best practices, we sent a survey to public sector bodies around Europe. We assessed the practices described in the responses (from 17 EU member states and 4 countries outside the EU), weighing different aspects: structure, clarity, quality, efficacy, cost-effectiveness, actionability, increased accessibility and target group satisfaction. Finally, we interviewed over 20 selected public sector bodies about the practices they use.

The repository presents the best practices identified, structured along the feedback process: from finding the feedback mechanism to communicating with the user about fixing the accessibility issues reported.