Torridge District Council has added cloud-based web accessibility software Recite Me to its website to make it accessible to the widest possible audience.
Located within the north west of Devon, Torridge District Council has a population of around 67,000 people. The council’s website currently attracts over 10,000 users per month and it has recently had a refresh to make many more services available online.
The council was looking for a web solution to make the site more accessible and inclusive to the widest possible audience. The move is part of the Council’s Transforming Torridge programme that aims to make to make it easier and more convenient for people to deal with the Council.
Recite Me has been added to the website to make it as accessible as possible to people of all ages, including people with a disability, learning difficulty or other impairment. Recite Me’s accessibility and language toolbar can be activated via a button at the top of each web page on the Council’s website. The toolbar gives users a number of options to make reading easier, such as having the text read aloud to them or changing font sizes and colours.
The toolbar can also instantly translate any text-based content into more than 100 languages. This is crucial for the Council because its website needs to be accessible to the increasing number of tourists that come to visit and holiday in the area, who may not speak English as their first language.
Councillor David Hurley , Lead Member for Internal Resources at Torridge District Council said: “Our website is becoming an ever more important tool for delivering information and allowing people to access services electronically.
“Many services now allow applications to be made online but we need to ensure that those people that might struggle with the standard way this information is presented are not excluded from these new ways of interacting.
“The Recite Me toolbar will bridge that gap for people that may have had difficulty in using our website in the past and is a practical and positive approach to improving accessibility.”
Ross Linnett, CEO & Founder of Recite Me said: “We believe that all websites should be accessible to the widest possible audience.
“We are very pleased to have been able to help Torridge District Council make its website more accessible and inclusive and applaud their efforts to help people access services online.
“The new accessible website will allow the widest possible audience to access information with ease and do what they need to do on the website, in the way that works best for them.”
