Websites have become an important resource in our lives in recent years. It is therefore important that your Joomla site is accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities or impairments. Currently, in many countries, website accessibility is also increasingly a legal requirement; in the Netherlands at least, this applies to all government websites.

In Joomla 4, 5 and 6, the backend template Atum has been created according to digital accessibility guidelines WCAG 2.1 AA.

Thus, all elements in the template can be accessed via the keyboard, it works excellently with screen readers and accessibility settings can be set per user.

Accessibility settings in user management

In the account settings, additional options have been added per user in the "accessibility settings" tab.

By default, the template looks like this.

and in dark mode (from Joomla 5)

Low-incentive (Monochrome) version of the backend template

This version provides much less stimulus for people who are sensitive to it.

Backend template in high contrast

It makes it easier to distinguish between page elements. It is essential that the different elements have a noticeable boundary, are clearly separated from each other and do not overlap.All content should also stand out from the background.

Backend template with clear links

Backend template with custom font size

This way, you can make the administration part of your website accessible, but of course it remains up to you to also make the website accessible to visitors.

Using the "System - Skip-To Navigation" plugin, you can display a dropdown on your website to allow users who work exclusively via a keyboard (i.e. without a mouse) to easily navigate through your website.

The plugin "System - Additional Accessibility Features" provides an additional button at the bottom right of your screen, when clicked you will find additional accessibility options.