Open up your website to an additional 2 million customers with web standards
Will the current Government legislation leave your website in breach of the law? If you haven't taken into account the requirements of the 'Disability Discrimination Act - Access to Goods and Services', this maybe the case.
The law demands a level of accessibility for the visually impaired, to a standard laid down in the W3C guidelines, which in most cases, will mean modifications to the design and structure of a site.
Some major organisations have already felt the impact of private lawsuits against them in advance of this new wave of legislation but the Government is keen to point out that compliance levels are relative to the size of a business and their means to implement them.
Typical compliance requirements include the ability to alter the size and colour of the text, to follow specific formats for links and provide a text alternative to pictures and graphics.
There are two schools of thought in the best way to achieve compliance and depending on whether you are designing a site from scratch or modifying an existing site the route maybe different. The functionality of your site will also be relevant.
The RNIB are advocates of the 'one size' fits all approach whilst others argue that to offer a variety of options, can better suit the needs of both sighted and visually impaired visitors.
If you are about to build a new site, the directives can be considered during planning and the site designed accordingly. At present there are a number of technologies, such as Flash and Javascript, which will need text alternatives and PDFs will need to be created with the very latest version of the software to make them accessible.
Alternatively, an organisation that already has a large site may find it more cost-effective to produce a parallel site in a 'text-only' version, but probably only if the site is updated by a content management system as this can be modified to update both versions simultaneously and avoid duplication of work.
Whilst compliance may at first be viewed as 'yet another' expense, consider the business benefits too. To quote the RNIB, "There are two million people with sight problems in the UK. Good design can make your websites, information materials, goods and services and buildings accessible to them." In fact, you could take the view, the sooner you take the plunge, the sooner you will gain a competitive edge over those dragging their heels.
Some examples of web standards design
Ansvar Website
Web marketing strategy to retain and build a strong, loyal presence in the insurance market.
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