Zadar Tourist Board adapts website for persons with disabilities

by croatiaweek
October 2, 2020
in Travel

Which Zadar restaurants are adapted for people with disabilities, which directions to move around the old town or which routes are most suitable for people with mobility difficulties to get to the museum or sports halls? The Zadar Tourist Board and the Administrative Department for EU Projects of the City of Zadar have realised the complex task of adapting the zadar.travel website for people with disabilities.

Promotional materials in Braille will be printed soon.

The project was financed and carried out by the Administrative Department for EU Projects of the City of Zadar and the Zadar Tourist Board, while the company Llyods Design from the town of Labin in Istria introduced the functionalities and web design of the new web site.

In addition to functional and design adjustments such as the font, size, and spacing, which are, for example, important for dyslexics, the site also has the ability to display the content in dark mode, as well as an integrated content reader in all supported languages that automatically turns on if used by a visually impaired or blind person, who has a default reader system installed on their computer. The project of adapting the content on the web was carried out by the City Tourist Board in cooperation with associations of persons with disabilities in Zadar, especially with the Association of the Physically Disabled of Zadar County, so that all changes have real value and provide information to guests with disabilities.

“So far we have had nothing, and now we have something. There is still room to supplement because there is a lot of information that is worth having on the web, but this is the first and very important step. The site will be better and more comprehensive over time,” says Filip Jadrijev, secretary of the Association of the Physically Disabled of Zadar County. Jadrijev was involved in the project of which he gave advice and suggestions, as did people from other associations, especially those visually impaired or blind from the Association of the Blind of Zadar County, who had certain requirements when creating and adapting pages.

“The project is very important because it is not intended only for users in Zadar, but also for all guests with disabilities who come to Zadar from all over Croatia and the world. As I am a physically disabled person who uses a wheelchair, it was important to me that the Tourist Board website provides information on where and how disabled people can move around Zadar, or whether they can visit restaurants, theater, and museums, or how to access apartments and the like. . In that sense, I expect the site to have more and more information day by day. Now we finally have a unique place that can be visited by a large population of people with disabilities, regardless of the type of disability,” concludes Jadrijev.

“The City of Zadar is already implementing the Tourism4All project from the cross-border cooperation program between Italy and Croatia, so we had funds available to finance activities related to affordable tourism. Cooperation with the Tourist Board was mutually beneficial because our project essentially deals with activities that can contribute to the improvement of services for tourists and people with disabilities,” says Josip Milić, head of the City Department for the preparation and implementation of EU projects.

“From the beginning, we were involved in this project and monitored the adaptation of the content on the website of the Zadar Tourist Board. In the end, we are very pleased with how the work was done. I think this is a commendable addition to Zadar tourism,” added Milić.