Web Accessibility
Blueclaw focuses its web design around key accessibility issues. Web accessibility is about ensuring your web site is accessible to all users.
There are an estimated 8.6 million registered disabled people in the UK, totaling 14% of the population. Many of these disabled people find it hard to use the internet by conventional means.
In April 2004 The Disability Rights Commission conducted a report titled 'The Web: Access and Inclusion for Disabled People'. The report revealed findings of a large-scale study of 1000 British websites. The DRC found that 81% of websites failed to meet the most basic criteria for conformance to web accessibility guidelines.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), who are the ruling authority on web accessibility guidelines.
Why make your web site accessible?
- Your web site will meet the legal recommendations set by Section III of the Disability Discrimination Act and will meet the priorities set by the WCAG.
- Your site will be easier to navigate which will increase its usability. It could be detrimental to your business if your site is difficult to navigate.
- You will get good publicity; some companies have already been threatened with legal action for not having an accessible website.
- Accessibility issues also incorporate compatibility with older web technologies (dial up connections and older browsers).
- Search engines find pages designed in an accessible manner easier to rank. If your business relies on internet sales, proper consideration of accessibility and usability will increase your profits.
- Companies have a moral obligation to present their web site as accessible to all.
How will Blueclaw make your web site accessible?
We test your web site for accessibility and send you a report detailing areas recommended for change.
There are 3 levels of accreditation which your web site can achieve:
- Level A is the most basic level and ensures that all Priority 1 criteria identified by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative - WCAG 1.0, are met. This level is the minimum standard a site should meet.
- Level AA is the second level of accreditation given to a web site under the WCAG. All web sites should aspire to at least level AA, which ensures that all Priority 1 and Priority 2 criteria identified in the WCAG are met.
- Level AAA is the highest level of accessibility that a web site can achieve. To reach this level, a web site must meet both Priority 1 and 2 criteria and also Priority 3 criteria, as identified by the WCAG.
Blueclaw will also test HTML coding, internet browser compatibility, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and the use of colours.
Blueclaw will help your company achieve the level you require.
