Multiannual digital accessibility plan 2024-2026
Introduction
Article 47 of French Law no. 2005-102 of 11 February 2005 on equal rights and opportunities, participation and citizenship for all makes it compulsory for all online public communication services to be accessible to all.
Accessibility policy
Digital accessibility is at the heart of the concerns linked to the development and provision of websites and software for both the public and OpenEdition’s internal staff. It is also included in the unit’s 2024-2028 strategic plan [PDF, 544 Kb].
This commitment is illustrated by this multiannual digital accessibility plan, combined with annual action plans, with the aim of supporting compliance with the French General Accessibility Improvement Standards and the gradual improvement of the websites and software concerned.
The development, monitoring and updating of this multiannual plan is the responsibility of : Amandine Texier - contact[at]openedition.org, Digital Accessibility Officer.
Their mission is to promote accessibility by disseminating standards and good practice, and to ensure that the following actions are implemented and monitored:
- support for staff, in particular through training initiatives,
- monitoring the application of Law 2005-102 of 11 February 2005 through regular audits,
- handling user requests,
- monitoring the quality of the service provided to people with disabilities.
Human and financial resources allocated to digital accessibility
In addition to the tasks of the Accessibility Officer, budget lines have been allocated to ensuring that our platforms and tools comply with digital standards and norms –including accessibility– in the COMMONS project (France 2030) and a section of the C3PO project (Amidex “Soutien RH aux plateformes technologiques”) deals specifically with accessibility.
How digital accessibility is taken into account
Taking digital accessibility into account means adapting the internal organisation for producing and managing the websites and software concerned, providing support for staff, modifying service delivery procedures and, lastly, taking care of people with disabilities when they report difficulties.
The elements below describe the key points on which OpenEdition will be relying to improve the digital accessibility of all its sites and software over the next few years. The fact that some sites are made using Lodel, a software under the responsibility of OpenEdition, and others using WordPress, means that they are treated differently.
Updating and upgrading platforms based on Lodel
The Calenda, OpenEdition Books and OpenEdition Journals platforms, as well as the OpenEdition website, currently use the Lodel CMS. Version 2 of the software went live in April 2024 which ensures that the software is up to date with standards, particularly accessibility standards, and can be maintained.
OpenEdition Books and OpenEdition Journals
A migration to Lodel 2 took place in the first half of 2024 for OpenEdition Books, with a redesign of the public interfaces to ensure the widest possible accessibility within the given development timescale, and which can be improved upon thereafter.
The new XML-TEI ‘Commons Publishing’ schema enables editorial teams to enter alternative texts for illustrations in order to make them accessible. This and other good accessibility practices are presented during user training sessions.
OpenEdition Books and OpenEdition Journals present content in three formats: HTML, PDF and ePub. Initially, priority will be given to making HTML and ePub formats accessible, including a switch from ePub 2 to ePub 3. Because of their fixed layout, PDFs are natively less accessible, so only marginal improvements are envisaged for this format to start with (including maintaining the accessibility tags filled in publisher’s PDF).
Preparatory work for the migration of OpenEdition Journals will begin in 2025, and this migration will enable the same improvements in terms of accessibility as for OpenEdition Books.
At a later stage, the software user interfaces (backoffice) will also be the subject of specific work to make them accessible, in line with the W3C’s Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines.
OpenEdition
The interfaces of the OpenEdition website are currently being overhauled: this includes institutional information, the presentation of services, the news portal, and content records and catalogues. Accessibility criteria are included in the specifications.
Calenda
Calenda will also have to evolve to improve its accessibility. This could be done by migrating to Lodel 2 or to another CMS. Whatever the choice, public interfaces will be given priority for accessibility, not forgetting writing interfaces.
Hypotheses
As the Hypotheses platform is based on WordPress, the exemptions that apply to it are broader than for other platforms. However, it is concerned by accessibility in a number of ways: the training given to bloggers addresses the subject of accessibility, WordPress updates to improve accessibility are integrated and the portal page will be audited.
Use of external expertise
Whenever necessary, external service providers will be called upon to assist OpenEdition in taking accessibility into account. This includes, for example, awareness-raising and training activities and, more particularly, audits and certification of the websites and software concerned. It will also be appropriate to plan user tests involving people with disabilities.
Training and awareness campaigns
Awareness of the issues involved in making our sites and content accessible to people with disabilities will be raised internally so that the whole team can improve its accessibility skills. This will enable accessibility to be taken into account in all the unit’s projects, right from the start, in order to save time and resources. This will also make it possible to incorporate accessibility into the contractual clauses of the various services and quotations.
For people who are interested and occupy particularly appropriate positions (front-end development, for example), training will be encouraged to enable them to meet the objectives mentioned.
It should also be noted that the OpenEdition teams raise awareness of accessibility and good practice as part of the training given to the platforms’ users. This will give them all the keys they need to produce accessible content.
Processing user feedback
In accordance with the provisions of the RGAA and the legitimate expectations of users, a means of contact has been set up (contact[at]openedition.org) to enable people with disabilities to report difficulties. The team will endeavour to provide an accessible alternative wherever possible.
Technical and functional scope
Census
OpenEdition manages 55 internet and intranet sites and 2 applications for the public and its staff.
Assessment and qualification
Each site or application has been qualified according to criteria such as visitor numbers, service provided, criticality, lifecycle (date of next overhaul) and the technologies used.
Rapid accessibility assessments have been or will be carried out on all the sites and applications concerned, to serve as a basis for preparing audits.
These assessments focus on a small number of criteria chosen for their relevance in terms of assessing the complexity and feasibility of compliance with RGAA standards.
Appendix 2 (below: ‘Public Technical Scope’) describes the elements of the technical and functional perimeter that may be made public. Some applications may not be made public for reasons of security or confidentiality, for example. An internal document (‘Appendix 1: Technical and Functional Scope’) describes all the elements of the technical scope.
Planned schedule of interventions
Given the information gathered during the preparation of this plan, the complexity of the sites and applications, their ranking in order of priority and their assessment in terms of feasibility, the compliance operations will be spread over the next few years.
Annual plan
This multiannual plan is accompanied by an annual action plan that describes in detail the operations implemented to meet all of OpenEdition’s digital accessibility needs.