accessibility helps everyone see your important content Accessibility is the practice of providing equal access to web sites and web content for people with disabilities.

Why should I bother it sounds like a lot of work for such a small market?

The number of people with visual disabilities in the UK alone is estimated to be approximately 1.1 million with the figure for Europe to be around 7.4 million this equates to around 1.9 % of the total European population (source http://www.euroblind.org).

Apart from the moral and legal reasons for developing an accessible web site, your site can gain an advantage over your competitors by reaching this market. In particular Tesco have already seen the benefit of providing an accessible web site for this community.

So what does the law say about Accessibility?

UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Section 21 of the Act gives disabled people improved rights of access to goods, facilities and services. Department of Education and Employment advice says:

"As a service provider, you might discriminate against a disabled person in two ways:
By treating him or her less favourably than other customers because of their disability; or
By not making reasonable adjustments to the way you deliver your services, so that disabled people can use them."

In October of 2004 this Act comes to full fruition, this means that those companies without at least a plan to implement changes to meet the guidelines for accessibility will have no defence against any legal action brought.

Is it likely that Companies will be prosecuted?

The simple answer to this is Yes.

In April 2004, Bert Massie the Chairman of the Disability Rights Commission reported that

“Organisations that offer goods and services on the Web already have a legal duty to make their sites accessible. It is clear from the investigation that these duties are not being fulfilled. The Commission’s policy is to seek improvement in the first instance through advice and conciliation, and this report contains a range of recommendations to help website owners and developers tackle the barriers to inclusive design. However, where the response is inadequate, we shall be vigorous in the use of our enforcement powers; these range from “named-party” Formal Investigations which can lead to sanctions against the owners of inaccessible websites, to the provision of support for test cases being brought by individual disabled people.”

Who or What are the W3C

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the organisation which develops standards for the internet. It is comprised of many of the pioneering developers of the internet together with people from governments and technology companies the world over.

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is a working party set up by W3C to set standards for making web pages accessible to as many people as possible. The first major output from this group was a set of guidelines which are seen as a standard all over the world.

The most sensible option is to act now to ensure that you meet the guideline set out by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), thus avoiding prosecution under the Disability Discrimination Act.

• Images & animations. Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual
• Image maps. Use client-side MAP and text for hotspots.
• Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video
• Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here."
• Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
• Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
• Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
• Frames. Use NOFRAMES and meaningful titles.
• Tables. Make line by line reading sensible. Summarize.
• Check your work. Validate. Use the tools, checklist, and guidelines at www.w3.org/TR/WCAG.

These are the main guidelines but for a more detailed list go to www.w3.org/WAI

Will I need to completely re-design my site?

No, your site only has to appear different to users who wish to view your site in an alternative manner.

Are there degrees of Accessibility?

Yes, the WAI offers three levels of accreditation:

• A - The site incorporates all the "must-have" checkpoints of the WAI guidelines. This would achieve basic accessibility to a large proportion of users with disabilities. This should be your first target in achieving accessibility.

• AA - the site incorporates all the "should-have" checkpoints. This eliminates all of the major hurdles to users with disabilities

• AAA - the site incorporates all the "may-have" checkpoints. This eliminates every hurdle to users with disabilities, however, to achieve this you would need a lot of investment and planning and this may not be cost effective for a profit making organisation

Is it only the WAI that has set standards?

No, the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) offers its own accreditation - the See It Right mark, which once won, would include your site on a list of approved companies on the seeitright website page
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/
documents/publicwebsite/public_seeitrightlogo.hcsp#TopOfPage

In addition to this, although not setting standards the Watchfire site “Bobby” is very helpful in establishing how accessible your site is and helping you to identify the areas that need to be improved.

http://bobby.watchfire.com

Indicium encourages all our clients to ensure that their sites are designed with accessibility in mind not only for the legal, moral and competitive reasons but also as a slight aid to the optimisation of the site. Accessible web sites are very Search Engine friendly; however this is a minor point in comparison to the reasons already explained.