About Accessibility
Web accessibility refers to the practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. When sites are correctly designed, developed and edited, all users can have equal access to information and functionality. For example, when a site is coded with semantically meaningful HTML, with textual equivalents provided for images and with links named meaningfully, this helps blind users using text-to-speech software and/or text-to-Braille hardware.
Web accessibility aims to address the following needs:
- Visual impairments including blindness, various common types of low vision and poor eyesight, various types of color blindness;
- Difficulty or inability to use the hands, including tremors, muscle slowness, loss of fine muscle control, etc;
- Deafness or hearing impairments, including individuals who are hard of hearing;
- Photoepileptic seizures caused by visual strobe or flashing effects;
- Developmental disabilities, learning disabilities (dyslexia, dyscalculia, etc.), and cognitive disabilities of various origins, affecting memory, attention, developmental "maturity," problem-solving and logic skills.
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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
In 1999 the Web Accessibility Initiative, a project by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), published the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 1.0. In recent years, these have been widely accepted as the definitive guidelines on how to create accessible websites.
The guidelines have three priority levels:
- Priority 1: Web developers must satisfy these requirements, otherwise it will be impossible for one or more groups to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as "A".
- Priority 2: Web developers should satisfy these requirements, otherwise some groups will find it difficult to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as "AA" or "double A".
- Priority 3: Web developers may satisfy these requirements, in order to make it easier for some groups to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as "AAA" or "triple A".
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PAS 78
In the UK, the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) in collaboration with British Standards Institution (BSI) have published PAS 78 which outlines good practice in commissioning accessible websites.
PAS 78 provides guidance to organisations in how to go about commissioning an accessible website from a design agency. It describes what is expected from websites to comply with the UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), making websites accessible and usable by disabled people.
The principal audience are businesses within the UK, but it is a relevant document for charity and volunteer organisations, as well as local and central government. It's also a useful document for web design agencies and web developers as a guide to what is expected of them. It is written from a business perspective and describes the web standards and usability testing needed for producing accessible websites.
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