Important strategic principles

Accessibility

The Publications Office is committed to providing all of our users with equal access to our information. With accessibility at the core of our framework and design, we employ universal design principles that ensure our websites can be viewed and navigated effectively by all of our users, regardless of the device they may be using.

As the official publisher of the European Union, we adhere to the web accessibility directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2102) to ensure that European Union publications and websites are accessible to all users including those with visual, auditory, cognitive or physical impairments, as well as those who do not possess the latest technologies.

Our web content can be accessed from a variety of devices such as desktop and laptop computers, as well as web-enabled mobile devices.

Accessibility compliance clauses are included by default in all contracts that the Publications Office signs with service providers for web development and production of publications. The deliverables produced by these companies comply with the recommendations of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.

The WCAG recommendation details a complete range of accessibility goals and provides guidance on how to meet the success criteria. Each success criterion is assessed and awarded one of three levels of conformance (A, AA and AAA). OP websites aim to achieve conformance level AA except where justified by technical or practical reasons.

It is the responsibility of the developers and the content creators to choose the appropriate implementation technique to fulfil the WCAG requirements. In order to control the quality of the implementation, the Publications Office has devised a practical approach comprising assessments performed by external consultants and internal expertise.

Standardised layout

Editors of the Publications Office portal are encouraged to use the existing site templates and not to incorporate third-party codes or formats into the Publications Office platform. This is because the Publications Office portal team cannot guarantee that this type of page construction will be compatible with the overall requirements that the Publications Office portal has to meet in terms of accessibility and rights; they also cannot guarantee that future migrations will be able to support any such features.

However, the Publications Office portal team is open to the wishes of editors and can work with them to try to create sustainable new formats if necessary.

Responsive design

For those not familiar with the term, responsive web design is a technique used to adapt content and functionality to different screen sizes, orientations and devices. This means that when considering content, layout and what components to use, we keep in mind that these features must also be adapted to different areas and environments.

Why do this? Because we live in a world with an infinite number of electronic devices that all connect to the internet and we must do our best to deliver our content in an appropriate manner. For example: a user looking at a publication details page must be able to access the information on the web page and order a copy of the publication on their desktop computer, laptop or mobile telephone without difficulty.