BLOG | COMPLIANCE
OTOBO’s Commitment to Accessibility: Complying with EU Directive 2016/2102
Last Updated: November 28, 2024
At Rother OSS GmbH, we’re dedicated to making OTOBO accessible to everyone, regardless of abilities. That’s why we’re ensuring our web app complies with national regulations that implement EU Directive 2016/2102.
This accessibility commitment covers both sides of OTOBO – the Customer Portal and Agent Portal (including admin interface) – starting with version 11.0.7, which launched on October 28, 2024.
OTOBO 11.0.7 comes with a high-contrast theme designed for users with visual impairments.
Here’s how to activate the high-contrast theme:
- Open your user profile and navigate to Personal Settings.
- Select the Miscellaneous option.
- In the Skin section, choose the High Contrast style.
Compatibility Status with Accessibility Requirements
We ran an accessibility audit on OTOBO based on the German regulations for barrier-free IT (BITV 2.0, EN 301 549). We wrapped this up in November 2024.
The BITV self-assessment is a free online tool that helps you develop accessible web apps and follow the guidelines set by the BITV test. It’s basically a checklist to evaluate how accessible your web app really is.
According to our assessment, OTOBO scores an accessibility rate of 93%. That means we’re not quite there yet – we still have some work to do to fully meet the accessibility requirements outlined in BITV 2.0 (EN 301 549).
We’ve documented where we’re falling short, and you can find those details below.
Limitations of Accessibility
Some parts of OTOBO 11.0.7 still aren’t fully accessible, and here’s why:
1. Alternative Texts
Description: Some elements currently lack alternative texts.
This affects the following success criteria:
9.1.1.1a Alternative texts for interactive elements
For links and interactive elements, we need to fall back on the link target or hover text in case of doubt – these are accurately labeled in OTOBO.
Affected: Customer & Agent Portal
9.1.1.1b Alternative texts for graphics and objects
E.g., favicon in customer portal, FAQ tile graphic.
Affected: Customer & Agent Portal
9.1.4.5 Avoiding image-based icons
We occasionally use image-based icons for symbols, but we still need to provide accurate ALT texts for them.
Affected: Customer & Agent Portal
Status: We’re planning to fix the non-compliant display by our upcoming patch releases (as of Q4 2024) and will roll it out step by step.
2. Skippable Areas
Description: Currently, it’s not possible to skip over sections like the navigation bar and ticket actions.
Every action is accessible, but it requires more tab navigations than ideal.
This affects the following success criteria:
9.2.4.1 Skippable areas
Affected: Customer & Agent Portal
3. Custom Browser Settings
Description: OTOBO doesn’t respect custom browser settings when using CKEditor.
This affects the following success criteria:
11.7 User-defined settings
Affected: Customer & Agent Portal
Status: We’ll make this configurable globally through a system setting, allowing users to toggle the description on or off.
4. Mandatory Field Indication
Description: OTOBO uses asterisks () to indicate mandatory fields, but doesn’t provide any context about what they mean. After submitting data, required fields are explicitly labeled as such.
This affects the following success criteria:
9.3.3.2 Labeling of form elements present
Affected: Customer & Agent Portal
Status: We’re planning to roll out this feature in our next major release, OTOBO 12.0, expected in Q4 2025.
Date of Creation or Last Update of this Statement
This statement was first published on November 28, 2024 and last updated on November 28, 2024.
Report Limitations of Accessibility: Contact the OTOBO Team
Want to let us know about existing limitations of accessibility or ask about implementing accessibility? For your feedback and any additional information, please reach out to us at accessibility@otobo.io.
Company
OTOBO | Empower Service Excellence to Make People Smile.
The Source Code Owner and Maintainer of OTOBO.
Software
Service Management Platform
OTOBO Demo
OTOBO Download
OTOBO Documentation
Report a security issues:
security@otobo.org
