Industry and Standards Compliance
In recent years accessibility (online and offline) has become an increasingly prominent topic, however, many people do not know that in the
UK there is already legislation which takes significant steps towards removing the difference between online and offline accessibility.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995, was introduced to tackle discrimination faced by disabled people in the UK and, infact, a section of
this act which applies specifically to websites (and puts in place requirements for them to be accessible) was brought into force on the 1st October
1999. Amendments were made in 2005 to remove some exemptions present in the original implementation - affecting public organisations such as the police
force, but also impacting upon small businesses.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People have
an excellent set of resources detailing the Disability Discrimination act and other legal issues surrounding accessibility.
Why is accessibility important on the web?
Every website must legally put in place good accessibility practices, there are many circumstances in which
discrimination could play a part (e.g. websites which provide a service of any description, or are related to employment, education or any process
where individuals may apply online).
As a business, it simply does not make sense to exclude a share of the target audience before they even have the chance to see what you
are offering. For example, according to BUPA, approximately 8% of men
experience some form of colour blindness - this could have a serious impact on their perception of your website, or upon how easy they find it to use.
We strive to adhere to the W3C WAI-AAA Web Accessibility Guidelines,
which are published by the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative.
We make this part of our
Web Standards Compliance
ethos. This gives us a good base to work from, although there are a few other key points to bear in mind:
- Do not rely on a single stimuli to give feedback, e.g. colour, sound - always provide textual feedback in a screen reader safe format as well
- Ensure any elements which are not accessible are not essential - e.g. flash movies, complex images, etc
- Good standards compliance can make websites more compatible with support tools for users with audio/visual impairments
How does enhanced accessibility benefit my business?
Apart from ensuring your legal compliance, the more accessible your site, the greater the audience for your website. Good
web design,
web development,
search engine optimization practices are ultimately
all centered around maximising the traffic to your website, and ensuring users are able to obtain the information they require (or conduct the
transactions which you want them to) in the most efficient manner possible.
Simply put: Better accessibility? More business.