At Health Navigator, we believe everyone has the right to easy-to-understand health information. So, it's our goal to make it easy for visitors of all ages, genders, ethnicities and abilities to quickly and easily find whatever you are looking for and understand what you are reading.
New Zealand web standards
There are two web standards that government organisations need to meet:
- the Web Accessibility Standard and
- the Web Usability Standard.
The New Zealand Government web toolkit provides tips, guidance and resources to help organisations apply these standards. For non-government organisations, such as Health Navigator NZ, the standards are optional. However, improving access for everyone is vital, so we are keen to keep working towards these standards.
Web Accessibility Standard
The web accessibility standard focuses on improving government website accessibility for people with disabilities. Accessible websites also benefit users without disabilities, as well those using a variety of technologies to access the web.
Web Usability Standard
The Web Usability Standard contains a number of non-accessibility related requirements, eg, contact information, copyright and privacy statements, links to non-HTML documents and printable web pages.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
If you are interested in accessibility, you may also hear about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. This is a well-established standard developed by an international group, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group, that aims to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities. This has the added benefit of being more user-friendly for everyone.
How are we doing?
The Health Navigator website has the following accessibility features:
- Standard user experience accessibility features built into the site, eg, pages are designed with the end-user in mind for ease of reading, including choice and use of colours, fonts and image placement.
- A health literacy focus.
- A highly visible feedback tab where we can survey users about accessibility needs.
- The ability to increase the font size available on each topic page.
We work hard to apply easy read information principles and adopt accessible language. We also continually work to keep improving the structure, layout and usability of the site.
To create a fully accessible website is complex and expensive. A lot of thought and planning went into improving the website usability when rebuilt in 2015. More features are planned for future development, including the development of quick keys optimised for different browsers and contrast pages.
Our focus on improving health literacy is present in all we do. This includes our web content, videos, resource development and workforce training. However, there is always room for improvement and if you find any problems or have any suggestions about what else can be done, please contact us.
Learn more
A guide to making easy read information People First's guide from the Office for Disability Issues. Everyone has the right to get information in a way you understand. This guide outlines the key principles for creating information in an easy read format.
Office for Disability Issues The Office for Disability Issues is a strategic and whole-of-government focused policy group, located within the Ministry of Social Development.
Web Accessibility Initiative Comprehensive website providing strategies, guidelines and resources to make the Web accessible to people with disabilities. Includes hosting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and a range of accessibility-related working groups.
References
- NZ Government web standards digital.govt.nz
- Web Accessibility Initiative
- Easy read information Office for Disability Issues, Ministry of Social Development
- Accessible language NZ Government Web Standards Toolkit