Lafarge rated for website accessibility

Lafarge has become the first CAC 40 company to earn a silver rating for making its company website accessible for disabled people.
 
The rating has been issued as part of the French Accessiweb label and is complemented by an A grade from the European label Euracert.
 
Among accessibility features on the Lafarge website at http://www.ethicalperformance.net/lafarge.html are:
 
- high colour contrast and the possibility of personalizing displays using larger character fonts
- options for screenless or mouseless navigation
- compatibility with special equipment used by disabled web users
- the possibility of listening to website content via a text-to-voice function
- transcripts available for downloading, as an alternative to flash animations and videos
- subtitles and audio descriptions in videos.
 
The cement company, whose website has 130,000 monthly visitors, has made website accessibility a key goal of its social responsibility programme, and has been advised on how to make improvements by Atalan, a company specializing in the field.
 
Web accessibility refers to the practice of making a website capable of use by people of all abilities and disabilities.  The Accessiweb and Euracert labels certify website accessibility and are awarded by the BrailleNet association in line with international recommendations drawn up by the Web Accessibility Initiative, a programme launched by the World Wide Web Consortium.