Help and accessibility

Introduction

For several years now, the Bpi has been committed to improving the accessibility of its websites. The first digital accessibility audits were conducted in 2015, followed by audits in 2017 and 2022, with the most recent ones taking place in October 2025.

As of that date, the RGAA 4.1.2 compliance audits, conducted by Numerik-ea, revealed that all of Bpi’s websites are partially compliant. Corrections to the non-compliant elements are currently underway.

Digital accessibility: a definition

According to Tim Berners-Lee, director of the W3C and inventor of the World Wide Web, web accessibility is:

“Making the web and its services available to all individuals, regardless of their hardware or software, network infrastructure, native language, culture, geographic location, or physical or mental abilities.”

For people with disabilities, this means being able to use (in the sense of perceiving, understanding, navigating, interacting with, and contributing to) the web or software (particularly office software) completely independently, without the intervention or assistance of a third party.

Digital accessibility enables people with disabilities or impairments—whether temporary or permanent—to enjoy an optimal experience, or at the very least, one that is as unimpeded as possible. It encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the web: visual, hearing, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities.

Digital accessibility benefits everyone, including older adults whose abilities change with age.

For more details, see the W3C’s Introduction to Web Accessibility.

The Bpi’s multi-year digital accessibility plan

The Bpi’s multi-year digital accessibility plan for 2024–2026 is available online (in French only).

The Bpi’s annual accessibility plans for 2025 and 2026 are also available online. The annual plans may be updated twice a year.

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Recommended tools for people with visual impairments

To facilitate navigation on our sites for the visually impaired, it is recommended to combine the following tools:

• Internet Explorer-Jaws;
• Firefox-NVDA;
• Safari-VoiceOver

Organization of sites: main navigation

The Bpi site is organized according to an ecosystem of 8 sites. The main navigation system is common to the three sites.

The institutional site of the Bpi

• See the accessibility page of the institutional site – partial accessibility

The Bpi catalog

• See the accessibility page of the catalog – partial accessibility

The Bpi agenda

• See the accessibility page of the agenda -partial accessibility

Balises webmagazine

• See the accessibility page of Balises – partial accessibility

Bpi Replay website

• See the accessibility of Replay website – partial accessibility

The site for professionals

• See the accessibility page of the pro site – partial accessibility

The ExplorezLaBpi interactive map

• See the ExplorezLaBpi website’s accessibility page – partial accessibility

The Digital Resources Cooperation website

• See the Digital Resources Cooperation website’s accessibility page – partial accessibility

Alternative navigation systems

• a simplified site map, accessible at the bottom of the page;
• a search engine placed at the very top of the site;
• a breadcrumb placed directly under the main menu tells you where you are and the path taken to get to the page where you are.

Navigation by titles

Today it is the most advanced navigation system in terms of accessibility.

The level 1 title corresponds to the main title of the site.

The level 2 title is the title of the article consulted. Most assistive technologies and browsers make headings easy to navigate. Most screen readers provide a feature to skip to the next heading.

With Jaws: lowercase t to go to the next title; Capital T to go to the previous title.

With NVDA: lowercase h to go to the next title; Capital H to go to the previous title.

Quick access links

Quick access links, present at the beginning of the document, allow easy navigation to the main regions of the pages. These links are:

• Direct access to content
• Direct access to the general menu
• Direct access to research
• Direct access to the site map

In addition, access to the form is done as follows:

• With Jaws:
  • Next form field: “f”
  • Switch to form mode: “Enter” key
  • Exit form mode: “plus” on the numeric keypad
  • List of form fields: “insert” +F5
  • By default, the automatic form mode is activated. This means that when you encounter an edit field, JAWS automatically activates form mode so that you can type text directly into it. JAWS automatically disables form mode when you leave the field.
  • If you turn off autoform mode by going to Quick Settings with the “JAWS + V” keys, you will first need to press the “Enter” key to activate form mode before you can type data.
  • Press “Esc” or the “+ (plus)” on the numeric keypad to manually exit form mode.

• With NVDA:
  • Next form field: “f”
  • Activate the form field: “Enter”..

Plugins necessary for the consultation of the site

The site includes PDF files for download, you must install software to read them.

Keyboard navigation for interactive components

The site embeds components based on javascript technology. Their structure and keyboard behavior comply with international recommendations.

For these components to work in a predictable way and according to the instructions for use that we provide below, screen reader users must reach them in forms mode, or activate forms mode once on them.

We list below the components present on the site and their use on the keyboard:

• Carousel: On each home page there is a carousel. A carousel is a rotating set of content. You can turn it on or off using the spacebar.
• Videos :
  • For embedded video players (from Youtube, Dailymotion or other platforms):
    • With Jaws, type the shortcut “h” to go to the Player frame. Then go down with the down arrow to a toggle button in the form of a “Play” or “Pause” link (depending on the context); note: if you go down further, you arrive on a button in the form of a “Mute the sound” link. To restore the sound, press the same link.
    • With NVDA, press “m” to go to the Player frame. Then go down with the down arrow to find the “Play” or “Pause” button (depending on the context); note: if you go down further, you reach a “Mute the sound” button. To restore the sound, press the same link .
    • For the native video player of our sites, playing video/audio is more complicated. However, when it works correctly, do the following with Jaws and NVDA: type “f” until the “Play” button to start the video.