# Web accessibility

Web accessibility means as many people as possible can use your website, including people with poor sight, screen reader users and people without a mouse.

Source: https://ibenta.no/en/glossary/web-accessibility
Publisher: Ibenta (https://ibenta.no)
Updated: 2026-09-27

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In Norway this is a legal requirement, for private businesses too. Section 18 of the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act (likestillings- og diskrimineringsloven) says that both public and private organisations must have universally designed ICT solutions aimed at their users. The details are in the regulations on universal design of ICT. For private businesses, this means the website must at least meet 35 success criteria in the WCAG 2.0 standard, at levels A and AA. The public sector has stricter requirements.

## Who checks, and why it matters to you

The Norwegian Authority for Universal Design of ICT (Uutilsynet), which is part of the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency (Digitaliseringsdirektoratet), supervises compliance. The requirement applies to websites and apps that are a main channel to customers, however large or small the business is.

It is also plain good service. Clear contrast, readable text and buttons that work with a keyboard make the site better for everyone, including you, in sunlight on your phone.

## How to test your own

Try using your website with the keyboard only. Press Tab to jump from link to link and Enter to select. Check that you can always see where you are, and that you can get all the way to the contact form and send it. Then paste the address into WAVE from WebAIM, a free tool that shows, among other things, images without alternative text, the short description screen readers read aloud. You do not need any access to the website to use it.