• Our customers
• Service agreements
• BS8878 services
• Disabled user testing
• Accessibility audits
• Accessible documents
• Best practice guidelines
• Accessibility accreditation
• Training and presentations
• Additional services
• Resources
  • Articles
  • Industry news
  • Our news
  • eNation reports
  • FAQ
  • Accessibility A-Z
  • Business case
  • Useful links
  • Useful low cost programs
• Contact the web team

Home > Web Services > Resources > You are here FAQ

FAQ

1. Why should we make our site accessible?
2. We would like to make our website accessible, what’s the first step?
3. We would like to have a website audit done. How soon could we have the report?
4. We would like to arrange disabled user testing of our website. Could you tell us a bit more about this, including what it covers and how long it takes?
5. We are designing a website \ having one designed for us. How can we make sure that we make it accessible from the outset, or that the organisation we are commissioning is able to  reliably implement accessibility into our site?
6. Where can we learn how to design websites with accessibility in mind? Are there any online resources?
7. Do you have a website design service? Are there any examples online of sites you have designed that we could see?
8. Can you provide accessibility training for our staff?
9. Are your services discounted for charities?
10. How do blind / disabled people use the web?
11. Where can I get a screenreader to test my pages?
12. How many people in the UK would benefit from increased web accessibility?
13. What are alt tags?
14. Is Flash accessible
15. Are PDF’s accessible?
16. What are the W3C WAI Guidelines?
17. How can I tell if the development team I’ve chosen knows anything about accessibility?
18. What is PAS 78?

Answers

1. Why should we make our site accessible?

Research has shown that making your website more accessible to disabled users invariably makes it easier for everyone to use. Regardless, if your website is offering a service to its users, the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) makes it an offence to discriminate against someone on the basis of disability. This means you could be breaking the law if your website is not accessible. For more information, read the business case for accessibility.

2. We would like to make our website accessible, what’s the first step?

You first need to decide on what level of accessibility you want to provide. Accessibility is tied very closely into the current standards for web design laid out by the W3C and we would recommend providing AA level compliance to these standards. Once you have decided on what level of accessibility you want to provide, you should try and find out how near to this standard you currently are. This would involve auditing your website. This is a service we can help you with, but there are many useful tools and techniques that can help your own web team manage the process.  Please visit our Articles archive for a wealth of advice and information.

3. We would like to have a website audit done. How soon could we have the report?

Once we have received all of the necessary information from you, we can have a comprehensive report back to you within 14 days. If you have more exacting requirements, it would be worth contacting us beforehand to discuss.

4. We would like to arrange disabled user testing of our website. Could you tell us a bit more about this, including what it covers and how long it takes?

We strongly advocate the use of disabled user testing to provide a better overall picture of how an accessible website will stand up to real world testing. Disabled user testing typically uncovers a range of issues not covered by W3C guidelines. We have access to a wide range of IT literate, disabled individuals with a range of disabilities, who are able to check your website using a range of assistive technologies. Typically these would include vision impaired users using screen magnification and screenreading software, physically disabled users using methods such as voice recognition to access your site, as well as users with learning difficulties or Dyslexia. Once the testing is complete we take the salient points from each users findings and compile an overall report for you, detailing any issues found together with recommendations on addressing them.

5. We are designing a website \ having one designed for us. How can we make sure that we make it accessible from the outset, or that the organisation we are commissioning is able to reliably implement accessibility into our site?

Ideally the organisation you are talking to will be able to point you to previous web projects they have worked on and that are online so you can check them out yourself. Beyond this, you can specify in your requirements document exactly that level of accessibility you expect. There is a document available called PAS 78 which can help you draft your requirements document and help you choose a reputable organisation to help design and build your website. This can be downloaded from the Disability Rights Commission website at www.drc-gb.org

http://www.drc-gb.org/library/website_accessibility_guidance/pas_78.aspx

6. Where can we learn how to design websites with accessibility in mind? Are there any online resources?

There are some excellent online resources to help you create accessible websites. A good starting place would be our links page.

7. Do you have a website design service? Are there any examples online of sites you have designed that we could see?

Yes we do have a design service and we would be happy to discuss your website requirements with you to see if we can help. Our Portfolio contains some of the sites we have created for previous clients.

8. Can you provide accessibility training for our staff?

We can provide a range of training opportunities for your staff, from awareness of the importance of accessibility through to more technically oriented sessions aimed at web developers. Depending on how many people your organisation has, you may want to consider pairing up with another local group and sharing the costs. Training is often of a presentational nature, though we encourage audience participation. With appropriate facilities, interactive training can also be offered.

9. Are your services discounted for charities?

We offer a 15% discount on our web services to charities. Please call us to discuss your needs.

10. How do blind / disabled people use the web?

A vision impaired user with some usable vision may use magnification software on their computer. This can magnify the screen contents up to 16 times their size and obviously works better with text than with images. For users with no useful vision, we would often expect them to use screenreading software such as JAWS. Screenreading software uses synthesized speech to provide a running audio commentary to the user on what is happening on screen as they use their computer.

11. Where can I get a screenreader to test my pages?

If you would like to test your pages with a screenreader (and we would highly recommend doing this), then you can download  demonstration copies of a number of screen readers that work for 30-40 minutes at a time before you need to restart your computer. Two of the most popular are JAWS and Window Eyes.

12. How many people in the UK would benefit from increased web accessibility?

A conservative estimate is that between 1.3 and 3.2 million disabled people in the UK have problems with inaccessible websites. These figures do not take into account:

• people with Dyslexia (approximately 6 million)
• people with literacy issues (17 million)
• people whose first language is not English
• older population – silver surfers.

Source: DWP, AbilityNet

Additionally an inaccessible website may also exclude those using older browsers, PDAs, WAP phones, WebTV or computers behind a firewall. 1 in 3 Britons are aged 50 or more, and they are the fastest growing segment of the internet population; by the year 2010, 40 per cent of the UK population will be over 45 – the age at which the incidence of disability begins to increase significantly. (Source: EFD)

Approximately 32 per cent of people using accessibility options or assistive technology do so for ease of use, comfort and convenience. They have no physical difficulty or impairment. (Source: Forrester Research 2004)

13. What are alt tags?

Alt in this context is short for alternative text. When screenreader users have a webpage read out to them, the screenreading software can’t describe images, so it will read out the associated alternative text. If no alt text is available, the user has to guess what the picture is from its filename, which is often a cryptic series of numbers and letters. Especially with pictures that convey a lot of information, this can prove impossible.

14. Is Flash accessible

In the past, Flash content has more often than not been inaccessible, particularly to screenreader users. With current releases of the software it is far easier to create accessible Flash content. Adobe have published a set of guidelines for creating accessible Flash content, available at their website: http://www.adobe.com/resources/accessibility/best_practices/bp_fp.html.

15. Are PDF’s accessible?

When created properly, PDF documents can be made accessible. Typically, these types of document will have proved difficult for screenreader users to access and use efficiently, however Adobe have published a set of guidelines for creating accessible PDF documents, available at their website: http://www.adobe.com/enterprise/accessibility/pdfs/acro7_pg_ue.pdf.

16. What are the W3C WAI Guidelines?

The W3C is the World Wide Web Consortium, a not for profit organisation who oversee the development of the world wide web. Part of this is creating guidelines and helping to standardise the ways in which information and content is made available on the internet. The WAI is the Web Accessibility Initiative, run by the W3C to promote the importance of accessibility on the web. The WAI have produced a set of checkpoints, WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) that the accessibility of a given resource to be determined.

A list of the checkpoints in the guidelines can be found on the W3C site: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/full-checklist.html

17. How can I tell if the development team I’ve chosen knows anything about accessibility?

There is currently no nationally recognised system of accreditation for website developers who claim to create accessible websites that uphold W3C guidelines and specifications. Therefore you need to ask them some key questions to check they have enough knowledge and experience to ensure they can make your site accessible.

You should specifically ask for:

1. examples of previous work
2. references from previous clients
3. evidence they have a practical knowledge of W3C guidelines and specifications
4. an appreciation of the law and awareness of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995
5. familiarity with assistive technologies such as screen readers and magnifiers used by people with vision impairments
6. a practical knowledge of PAS 78 - not essential but would be an additional indication they take accessibility seriously.

18. What is PAS 78?

Disability Rights Commission (DRC) research on web accessibility found that awareness of the issue is high, but good practice is terribly low. To tackle this the DRC tasked the British Standards Institution (BSI) to produce a PAS (Publicly Available Specification) on commissioning accessible websites. The PAS is not ‘rules’, is not ‘new web design guidelines’ and it is not ‘the law’.  It is a useful framework that anyone involved in commissioning a website can use to make sure accessibility is integrated into the website project.

The PAS was launched March 2006 and it:

1. gives advice on creating an accessibility policy
2. explains how disabled people use websites
3. overviews web technologies
4. gives guidance on choosing a web developer (checklist)
5. overviews accessibility testing options
6. details how to do disabled user testing.

You can obtain a free copy of the guidelines from the Disability Rights Commission website:
http://www.drc-gb.org/library/website_accessibility_guidance/pas_78.aspx

Go to Top.