How Mett ensures digital accessibility as a supplier

Approach: from research to iterative improvement

As a supplier to the government, Mett had to deal with digital accessibility early on. “When we had to tackle this, we decided to do it right. That was quite a challenge,” says Jasper. Like many organizations, Mett started with an accessibility audit. Wietse: “That revealed that a lot needed to be changed. We then got to work on the front end of the system and then on the CMS itself.”

“Technically, I’d say we’re at about 98% now. But we still receive test reports from clients pointing out errors in the content. There’s not much we can do about that,” says Wietse. Jasper adds: “Our system has many configuration options and features that clients can enable or disable. We can never fully test all combinations in advance. If there are technical issues, we resolve them. But there can also be issues with the content itself, such as the incorrect use of headings and alt text. This sometimes causes confusion: clients expect a fully accessible product, and if there are still findings in a report, they often ask us to investigate the source and explain it.”

Preventing errors in the CMS saves Mett and clients a lot of time

Informing and advising clients during this process takes a lot of time. That’s why Mett tries to design the system so that users are less likely to make accessibility errors.

Wietse: “We develop features to guide our users when adding content, with the goal of making it accessible right away. For example, the CMS includes help texts on what to look out for. And we’re working on an accessibility check within the editor that verifies parts of the content. We often see missing alternative text, an incorrect heading structure, or text that’s been formatted as ‘bold’ using the wrong style.With these tools, we prevent errors and raise awareness among customers, so they can do it right themselves next time.”

A different perspective on content and the value of accessibility

Accessibility sometimes means you have to present content differently than you’re used to. Jasper: “A client wanted a video at the top with content layered over it. That’s not something we can just do in our system. For example, such a video can’t play automatically, must be pausable, and can’t be too long. Clients sometimes find that a hassle, so we have to explain clearly why it’s necessary.”

What helps here is highlighting the benefits of accessibility. It improves your search engine visibility (SEO) and ensures that content is better understood by search and AI systems (GEO). Plus, you expand your target audience. That makes it a good investment.

Taking the hassle out of accessibility through analysis, audits, and collaboration

Thanks to the knowledge and experience Mett has gained, they can better guide their clients. Jasper: “Clients appreciate that we help them understand the importance of digital accessibility. We look beyond what’s literally written in the rules: we also consider why a rule exists and what that means for design, content, and technology. For audits, we refer clients to Swink. Our software has been tested by Swink, and we apply the same interpretation of the accessibility rules. After all, many guidelines aren’t black and white. That collaboration makes things more efficient for both us and the client.”

Challenges and Lessons

In recent years, Mett has learned that the separation between content and technology is difficult in practice. And also difficult to explain to clients. Jasper: “How do we demonstrate that we are technically digitally accessible? What falls within a technical audit and what doesn’t?” That required research and coordination, including with Logius (which evaluates reports on behalf of the government). “There are no hard and fast boundaries, but we now have a solid approach for this,” says Jasper.

Another lesson is that it’s an illusion to think you can be fully accessible at any given moment. “Accessibility is an intention and a process, but it’s never finished at any given point. Mistakes will always happen. You have to accept that. We also have to explain that to clients. That what matters is that you do your best to be accessible and fixing problems as you find them. That mindset also puts customers at ease,” says Jasper.

Tips for other suppliers

How can other suppliers benefit from Mett’s experience? Jasper has a tip: “It’s important that, as an organization, you don’t view accessibility as something technical or merely an obligation. See it as an opportunity. Make sure the people you put in charge of this also have the authority and resources to do it right. Management needs to prioritize accessibility so that people don’t see it as a hassle. Because I still see that happening far too often.”

“What helps prioritize accessibility is showing what it means in practice. For example, seeing how screen-reader software works on your website is an eye-opener. During a Swink awareness session, a blind person demonstrated how he uses the internet. You understand the importance of accessibility much better when you see the challenges someone with a disability faces,” says Wietse.