Ava-akatemia
Ava-akatemia is a forward-looking training house and vocational education provider based in Herttoniemi, Helsinki. The academy specializes in customized coaching programs and professional qualifications. Ava-akatemia serves professionals from various fields who are looking to develop their business acumen, leadership, and sales skills. They also offer training and testing services for company groups.
Aiming for digital equality
The Finnish Act on the Provision of Digital Services requires public authorities and many other organizations to meet accessibility standards for their online services and applications. But accessible services benefit everyone—so it’s worth meeting the standards even if you’re not legally obligated. As a provider of educational services, accessibility is crucial to Ava-akatemia in promoting equal opportunities for all learners.
The goal of the accessibility audit was to determine how well the site meets the WCAG 2.1 A and AA level criteria. The audit could also extend to AAA-level criteria if needed. Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the WCAG guidelines ensure that web technologies and functionalities follow best practices in accessibility.
The audit revealed areas for improvement
Hurja carried out a comprehensive audit of the Ava-akatemia website to assess compliance with all A and AA criteria (a total of 50). Testing focused on commonly used page templates to get a thorough understanding of the site’s accessibility.
Automated and manual testing combined
Manual testing involved navigating the site using only a keyboard, using the popular NVDA screen reader, and checking contrast levels of fonts and elements. Most issues were found through keyboard and screen reader use—tools vital to understanding the true experience of visually impaired users.
The final accessibility report included clear documentation of each issue: which WCAG criteria it failed and why. Wherever possible, we included screenshots to illustrate the problems, making it easier for developers to identify and fix them. Each issue also came with a concrete recommendation for fixing it to comply with the standards.
At the final review meeting, we presented a plain-language summary of the results to the Ava-akatemia team. Our goal is to always make accessibility reports easy to understand, even for those unfamiliar with the topic. We also provided clear instructions on how to fix the issues and bring the site up to AA-level compliance.
Pages featuring videos, audio content, and forms were especially scrutinized to ensure no critical issues were overlooked.
Benefits visible to users – and in the quality of education
Although Ava-akatemia’s website seemed functional on the surface, the audit uncovered several small but impactful accessibility flaws. These included responsiveness issues and non-functional elements.
- After the review, Ava-akatemia received a detailed accessibility report including:
- When, how, and with what tools the audit was conducted
- Which pages and features were tested
- A summary of results (passed, failed)
- Criteria-by-criteria breakdown
- Detailed lists of issues with screenshots
- Fix recommendations for every issue
- Impact assessments of each issue
- Additional suggestions for issues not covered by WCAG but still worth addressing
- Accessibility statement to be added to the website:
- The statement presents the accessibility level of the website
- A slide summary of the accessibility audit results:
- A clearly understandable summary of the results
Based on the audit findings, Ava-akatemia chose to expand the review to a technical WordPress audit, with Hurja handling the implementation.
Our developer located and fixed the technical issues, and after the updates, the site now fully meets WCAG AA criteria—ensuring more equitable digital education for everyone.
Let’s improve your accessibility too! Start with an accessibility audit to find out where you stand and how your service can be improved. And if needed, our professionals at Hurja can also take care of the fixes. Get in touch with us.
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Emmotit Oy
