web accessibility

what it's all about

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed standards and guidelines to help ensure the future of the web through the compatibility of the hardware and software used to access it. This is known as 'Web interoperability'.

"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

Web accessibility is a term used to describe the process around making websites available to as many people as possible. The W3C's work in this area is covered by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) which has developed Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and a graduated scoring scheme for websites. This scoring scheme recognises three levels of accessibility and recommends that:

Conformance Level 'A' - below this level 'one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents.'
Conformance Level 'Double-A' - below this level 'one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.'
Conformance Level 'Triple-A' - below this level 'one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents.'

For further details please refer to the WAI's page for WCAG 1.0 from which these definitions have been taken.

why your website needs to be accessible

Although much of the emphasis is around making websites accessible to people with disabilities, it is worth remembering that there are over 35 ways to access a website other than through a standard PC and Internet Explorer.

There is an excellent article on this subject as it relates to UK business websites on the website of the Guild of Accessible Web Designers but the key points are:

the Disability Discrimination Act applies to websites offering goods and services to the public;
if a customer contacts you about an access problem with your website and you are not able to resolve it you could be taken to court by the customer. If they win, they could be awarded compensation 'for financial loss, for injured feeling or both';
an accessible website increases your potential customer base;
your website should be easier and cheaper to maintain once it is accessible as the code will be cleaner and tidier; and
your website should rank more highly in search engines since the bots used by the search engines score accessible websites more highly.

what you get with this service

The service comprises a series of checks and you will receive a report detailing any areas of your website that fail to meet W3C standards. The report will cover:

whether any Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) used are valid;
whether the individual pages are valid when tested against their declared document type; and
what level of accessibility they provide when measured against W3C WCAG 1.0.

Where pages fail to meet the prescribed standard, the report will include a list of the identified errors for each page broken down by the conformance levels described above.

the cost of this service

This is calculated on a straight-forward charge of £10 per document. For example, if your website comprises nine pages plus a CSS file, the fee would be £100.

what happens after you get your report

If your website is compliant, you will be permitted by the W3C to display the appropriate logos. These can be added to your website's home page with an accompanying statement much like those displayed on the home page of this website. The charge for adding these logos to your home page would be £30.

If your website is not compliant, your report will include quotes for the work required to correct any coding errors and to bring it up to each of the conformance levels.

Contact Crystal Web Design to discuss your needs.