accessibility
The portal of the Institute of Biomedical Technologies of the National Research Council (CNR-ITB) was developed with the goal of offering users a comprehensive, simple, understandable, and usable tool under any conditions. The first essential quality of a public website is accessibility, meaning the ability to access the site regardless of any technological, physical, or environmental limitations. Another feature now considered essential is responsiveness, meaning the site’s ability to automatically adapt to the size of the user’s device (computer, tablet, or smartphone), making it easy to read and navigate.
The CNR-ITB portal guarantees compliance with the technical requirements set out in Annex A of Law 4/2004, “Provisions to Promote Access to IT Tools for Persons with Disabilities” (the so-called Stanca Law), and was developed using HTML5 markup language and CSS style sheets.
To improve user accessibility, the site also offers a dedicated feature that allows you to configure a set of visual and navigation parameters. To use this feature, simply select the appropriate icon on each page.
Automatic Validation Tools
All portal pages were checked using automatic tools to ensure compliance with technical standards and accessibility requirements.
Specifically, the following were used:
- WAVE for automatically analyzing web page accessibility
- Mauve for automatically analyzing web page accessibility
The automatic checks were complemented by manual checks, aimed at evaluating aspects that could not be fully detected using automatic tools, such as the semantic accuracy of content, the quality of the user experience, the consistency of navigation, and the effective usability of services.
Operating System and Browser Compatibility
The portal has been designed and tested to ensure maximum compatibility with major operating systems and browsers, both functionally and visually.
The site has therefore been tested with:
Browsers
- Firefox 47 (on PC, Mac, and Android)
- Safari 9.11 (on Mac and iPad)
- Internet Explorer 11 (on PC)
Operating Systems
- Mac OS X 10.11.15
- Windows 7
- iOS 9.3.2
Usability testing
The Lombardy Region portal was subjected to various types of usability testing throughout all design and implementation phases to ensure the quality of the user experience.
Heuristic evaluation conducted by the portal working group on the portal’s page templates and detail pages, which identified the most obvious issues with the previous version.
Summative testing was conducted with a variable panel of approximately six internal administration users. The tests were performed directly in the pre-production environment.
Formative testing was conducted with a panel of 10 participants, supported by the portal working group. The sample included men and women of varying ages, representing different user groups: citizens, researchers, and people with disabilities.
Help us improve
For reports, suggestions, or comments regarding accessibility and usability of the portal, please contact us using the online form.