Accessible web content

10% of the UK have some kind of disability and in 2005 legislation suggests websites should enable the content to:

Appearance can be controlled by the user
Can be navigated using a mouse, keyboard or other input devices
Work well in text-only browsers
Work well as speech
Work well at low bandwidth

Specifically consider the following:

Images

Ensure you give all images meaningful alternative text descriptions. Use plain English and be succint.

Link text

Blind or visually impaired users with speech reading tools will often scan through a page listening to just the links. So, avoid link text that makes no sense when read out of context. Use meaningful link text that says exactly what it is and work the link text into your prose.

For example, the link in this sentence:

There are useful resources in the Royal National Institute for the Blind’s Web Access Centre.

…is more accessible than in this sentence:

Click here for the Royal National Institute for the Blind’s Web Access Centre.

Video

Adding captions and transcripts to your videos:

Help deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals
Help blind or partially-sighted people because the text alternative can be turned into other forms, such as large print, braille or speech
Help people make sense of voices, accents or languages that may be difficult to understand

Useful tools to add captions and transcriptions include:

WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative)

You should conform to level A and AA success criteria (previously called priority 1 and 2). The WAI provide definitive guidelines on how to make your website accessible and checklists so you can see if your current website meets the required standard:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Web Content Accessiblity Checklist – a checklist you can follow to determine whether your site meets the level A and AA guidelines
WAI Resources – a comprehensive list

Legislation

SENDA (Special Educational Needs and Disability Act) 2001 and changes to the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) 1995 means there is a legal obligation to meet the needs of people with disabilities.

SENDA and new sections of the DDA, which explicitly concern education, have been in force since September 2002. The law affects all education and training provided by higher and further education institutions, including provision of student services.

In addition to not treating a disabled person “less favourably” for a reason relating to their disability, institutions are required to make “reasonable adjustments” if a disabled person is placed at a “substantial disadvantage”. This includes provision of accessible institutional services, including departmental, faculty and institutional websites.

Legal opinion: Maguire v SOCOG, 2000

A visually impaired Australian took legal action under the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992, which the UK’s DDA broadly mirrors, against the Sydney Olympics Commission for providing an inaccessible website and refusing to correct it. The action was upheld and the Sydney Olympics Commission fined. Reference was made to the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 as a technical benchmark.

Australian case law is not binding in the UK but in cases that are unconsidered and undecided, it can be considered persuasive and, therefore, Maguire v SOCOG will probably be used in any legal action.

As a result, legal experts recommend public service websites meet all the W3C’s level A and level AA guidelines.

Accessible web content