OAG website to be easily accessible by visually-impaired people
The website of the Office of the Auditor General of State Finances, which is under development will be easily accessible by the visually-impaired people compared to the current website, which was developed five years ago.
The development comes after five-day long training organized by Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA) at Musanze Hanga Hub, aimed at strengthening the skills of government website end-users in practical application of new standards, effective use of upgraded GOV.RW platform, and promoting a consistent, accessible, and a user-friendly web presence.
Recently, RISA introduced guidelines for the design, development, and management of websites across Government of Rwanda institutions. It provides a unified framework to ensure all government digital platforms are consistent, user-friendly, accessible, and secure.
These guidelines will serve as a reference for designers, developers, and content managers to create websites that reflect the government’s digital vision and uphold high standards of quality and trust.
To ensure that the new TYPO3-Content Management System website is easily accessible by visually impaired people, during the training, trainers from RISA urged “Proper naming and description of the photos on the website to allow the narrator to help visually impaired individuals, Proper file naming and provision of alternative text for images. It will not rely on one color.”
“Designed with accessibility in mind, inter enhances the usability of digital content for all users, including those with visual impairments. The font’s clear distinctions between similar characters (like "1" and "l" or "0" and "O") minimize confusion and errors. Additionally, Inter's support for high contrast settings and scalable design ensures compatibility with screen readers and other assistive technologies, making digital content more inclusive and easier to navigate for everyone.” They added.
The website will be developed in a way that it helps visually impaired users who highly rely on screen readers like JAWS or NVDA. It will have easy keyboard navigation in case some users cannot use a mouse and it uses high contrast.
RISA advised website end-users to “use plain language and concise wording, to break content into headings and short paragraphs and avoiding overly complex sentences, providing text transcripts for audio and se descriptive links to enhance access inclusivity.
RISA says the objectives to develop new website is to:
Consistency and Branding: Maintain a uniform look and feel across all government web pages, reinforcing a strong and recognizable national digital identity.
Improved User Experience (UX): Ensure navigation, content structure, and accessibility features are optimized to deliver an intuitive and inclusive experience for all users.
Faster Development and Maintenance: Enable developers and designers to work more efficiently by minimizing inconsistencies, streamlining workflows, and reducing the need for repetitive revisions.
The OAG IT team is currently in touch with RISA so as to start using the newly developed OAG website which will also have Kinyarwanda Version not later than May 2026.