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2.4 Building in universal accessibility + checklist

Publishing date: October 2005

Preface

Accessibility is a broad and much discussed subject applied to web-based services and equally to the tools used to produce and deliver these services.

Ensuring that all can access public sector websites and online services (Internet and Intranet) as far as is reasonably possible – is both a moral and legal requirement for UK public bodies (every government department, council, and agency, the police, the NHS and the armed forces).

This requirement is complex and designing for accessibility should be seen as strategic and procurement issues as much as technical and editorial issues. Accessibility and usability needs to be considered when:

• planning the delivery of public facing and internal web–based services,
• authoring website content, and
• building, cleaning-up and sustaining web–based services.

The Guidelines for UK Government Websites was first published in 2002 and this revision of section 2.4 has been undertaken to update issues and be a good practice guide by providing, for example:

• • an overview of accessibility and usability issues and the barriers that many users encounter;
• a practical review of the ‘W3C WAI core specification of Level AA’ that the public sector should be striving for;
• a summary of future ‘web standards’;
• information on significant non-W3C technologies, such as PDFs, Flash, geospatial information systems, and issues that are seen as barriers;
• guidance on validation and user testing;
• guidance on the procurement of accessibility; and
• guidance on writing for the web and use of ‘Easy-to-Read’.

This revision supports Action 7 from Connecting the UK: the Digital Strategy and the forthcoming PAS 78: Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites to be published by British Standards Institution (BSI).

The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee,
W3C Director and Inventor of the World Wide Web