Web accessibility is more than a standard. It provides users and customers a starting point to judge the quality of their experience.
Web designers need to change their ways
The real issue lies with web developers, designers and agencies that are ignorant of web accessibility standards.
We can all spot a builder in a Stetson hat. How would you spot a cowboy website designer. Does your company website only work with Internet Explorer.
Perth and Kinross council have been aware since 31st March that the none of their websites are AA approved.
As yet they have taken no action to prevent the tax payer from potential legal action.
Web accessibility
Web accessibility is about making your website accessible to all users both disabled and non-disabled regardless of the technology they are using. Standard compliant websites have great benefits to the overall visitor experience. One of the benefits is your website being useable with the majority of web browsers. i.e.: Internet Explorer, Mozilla, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Galleon, Konqueror and Lynx. Other benefits include improved usability, reduced maintenance costs and future proofing.
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
From the 1st of October 1999 a service provider is obliged to take reasonable
steps to change a practise that makes it unreasonably difficult for disabled
people to make use of their service. Section 3 of the DDA that refers to
accessible websites came into force on the 1st of October 1999 and the code
of practise was published in May 2002. This means that the majority of business
websites in Perthshire have been in breach of the law for more than five
years. Not complying with the DDA leaves your business open to the prospect
of legal action. W3C accessibility guidelines will be used to assess the
accessibility of a website and decide the outcome of a case.
The W3C guidelines offer 3 levels of compliance.
Priority 1 guidelines must be satisfied and adhered to.
Priority 2 guidelines are the European union recommended level and should
be satisfied. Priority 3 guidelines may be satisfied.
The W3C html 4.01 logo on the right of this page can be used to verify that this page complies with current W3C html guidelines. Standard html 4.01 is the building block to accessible websites. From using the current standards this site is also compliant with the automated tests for priority 3 accessible guidelines (WAI AAA, WCAG 1.0).
Recently a council spokeswoman explained the council has a statutory duty to secure best value for the community. Perthshire Business explored the statement of "best value" ending with the conclusion that best value cannot be dictated by price alone. Quality and fit for the purpose intended must be considered. The best value practise declared several times by Perth and Kinross council has left the community open to the potential prospect of legal action under the Disability Discrimination Act. Alternatively the costs of making the current websites compliant.
Target standard for a UK local authority is Priority 2 WAI AA standard (Bobby AA)
The following websites were commissioned by or with the assistance of Perth and Kinross council. Tests carried out were for valid W3C html 4.01 compliance. Each site was tested against the automated check list for W3C WAI access priority 1-3. Manual testing for priority 1-3 was not carried out. Additional testing was carried out using the British Disability Discrimination Act.
Testing tools used: W3C html Validator, Watchfire WebXact. The sites were cross referenced through the Bobby standard validator.
www.perthshire.com
Page warnings: No author tags No keywords. Not optimised for search engines. Website is missing crucial elements which help it appear in search engines. Missing and broken links throughout the site. Quality of design not Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional
Passed Priority 1 WAI A standard (Bobby A)
Found to be in violation of the British Disability Discrimination Act
www.perthshireG8.com
Page warnings: No author tags. No keywords. Not optimised for search engines. Quality of design not Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional
Failed Priority 1 WAI A standard (Bobby A)
Found to be in violation of the British Disability Discrimination Act
www.perthshire-produce.co.uk
Page warnings: No author tags. No description. No keywords. Not optimised for search engines. Website is missing crucial elements which help it appear in search engines. Broken link. Quality of design not Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional
Failed Priority 1 WAI A standard (Bobby A)
Found to be in violation of the British Disability Discrimination Act
www.perthandkinrossleisure.co.uk
Page warnings: Broken links. Quality of design not Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional
Failed Priority 1 WAI A standard (Bobby A)
Found to be in violation of the British Disability Discrimination Act
Other websites in the Perthshire area were also tested
