Accessibility and making accessible websites
We design accessible websites so that it will be easier for search engines to find, easier for all your visitors to use and will be more effective for you and your organisation.
What is accessibility and why do I need an accessible websites?
There are 10 million people in the UK with some form of disability (source - Disability Rights Commission) - that's about one in seven of the population. If your website isn't accessible you could be turning away potential customers as well as falling foul of the law.
We think it makes sense to have accessible websites. This means that internet users who have visual or motor impairments can also experience the pleasures and benefits of the worldwide web.
With a combined disposable income of around £50 billion a year it would be crazy to turn this business away.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) makes it illegal for companies to provide an inferior service to, or discriminate against, a disabled person. This legislation extends to websites.
In March 2003 the Disability Rights Commission announced its decision to test 1000 websites for accessibility. There was no intent to name and shame or indeed take legal action. It was an exercise to ascertain the level of accessibility awareness and implementation in websites across the UK. The results, published in April 2004, were astonishing. Only 0.2% of the sites tested achieved anything like the level of accessibility deemed acceptable. More alarmingly, 81% of the tested sites failed to reach the most basic accessibility guidelines.
So now would be a good time to get your website checked out.
We can carry out an accessible websites report on your existing site - enabling you to plan your path to compliance with the DDA.
Click here for to enquire about making your site accessible.