Accessible for everyone: The idea behind accessibility
Accessibility on the web means designing content in such a way that it can be used by as many people as possible - regardless of individual abilities, limitations or technical aids. For your career site, this means that all potential applicants - whether with or without a disability - can access, navigate and understand the content.
Accessibility is not an add-on, but an essential quality aspect of modern websites. It not only improves user-friendliness for people with disabilities, but also has a positive effect on SEO and general comprehensibility.
With the softgarden career site, we offer you a system that already fulfils many of the requirements for digital accessibility. The technical foundation has been laid - now it's all about how content is maintained and designed. And this is exactly where we want to support you.
In this guide, we show you how you can take simple measures to ensure that your career site is accessible to everyone.
What is already included in the System
The softgarden career site is technically structured in such a way that many requirements for digital accessibility are already automatically taken into account. This means you get a solid foundation - without having to programme it yourself.
Here are some examples of how the system supports you:
Structured headings: Each career page automatically contains a correctly integrated H1 that is visible to screen readers but invisible to visitors. Additional headings are supplemented with H2 and H3 using the content of the widgets.
Alternative texts for media: For images, there are fields for alternative texts in all relevant components that can be read by screen readers.
Responsive and accessible design: The pages are designed so that they are also easy to read on mobile devices and can be navigated using the keyboard.
Helpful default settings in the editor: Many components generate the correct semantic structure automatically. Where this is not the case, you will receive instructions on what you should pay attention to.
Your role as an editor
Even though the softgarden career site automatically takes many accessibility standards into account, one crucial part remains in your hands: the editorial design. Preparing content in such a way that it is accessible to everyone requires a little attention - but no technical expertise.
Here are a few points you should pay attention to:
Use headings with caution
Don't just use headings for design reasons. Pay attention to a clear hierarchy (H2 → H3) and avoid deleting important titles if, for example, a component specifies an H2.
Add alternative texts
Enter a meaningful alternative text for each image. These texts help users with screen readers - and also improve findability via search engines.
Write clearly
Use clear, simple language. Avoid purely visual references such as "see image on the right" or unclear link texts such as "click here".
Formulate links descriptively
A link such as "More about our team" is more helpful than "Find out more". This way, even screen reader users know immediately what it's about. Even with these simple measures, you can make an important contribution to an accessible careers site.
Further guides
Many aspects of accessibility are already covered by the technology on the softgarden career site - but details are particularly important when it comes to editorial content. If you would like to read up on how to make certain elements accessible, these compact instructions will help you:
Alternative texts: How to improve the accessibility of your content
In this guide, you will learn in which components images or videos can be provided with alternative texts - and why this is so important.
Headings: For an accessible and structured careers site
Here we explain how the heading structure works in the softgarden careers site and what you should pay attention to in order to ensure a clear, accessible structure.
Subtitles: How to make video content on your careers site accessible
In this guide, you will learn why subtitles are important for accessible communication - and how to add them to YouTube and Vimeo so that your embedded videos meet accessibility requirements.