Guidelines to develop accessible web sites

Firms wanting to improve the accessibility of their web sites to attract a wider audience and comply with anti-discrimination laws can refer to a new best practice guide from the British Standards Institution (BSI).

The BSI’s Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 78 guide was released last week and is sponsored by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC). The guide includes advice on contract- ing for web site auditing services and creating accessibility policies.

“PAS 78 is the first time comprehensive guidance has been published in a single, authoritative document,” commented Julie Howell, digital policy development manager at the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and a contributor to the guide. “Much of the content has not been common knowledge until now, despite being scattered throughout the public domain.”

Robin Christopherson of web accessibility specialist AbilityNet believes the guide can add value to web sites. “There is no excuse for any organisation of any size or in any sector to put [web site work] out to tender without [detailing the requirement for] site accessibility,” Christopherson said. “It’s good news for firms because it’s just a small extra cost [to produce an accessible site which] is on balance cheaper to maintain and available to a bigger customer base.”

However, Christopherson added that unless the guide is well-publicised, it could take some time before PAS 78 becomes familiar to staff responsible for managing web sites.

According to the DRC, “PAS” was deliberately chosen as the specification for the document instead of the more formal “BSI” standard because it is quicker to implement and more flexible.

“The guidelines can be updated every two years, so we want to hear how user-friendly they are,” said a DRC spokeswoman. “There is enormous interest in PAS 78 but we need to build a good solid marketing programme [to raise industry awareness].” The PAS 78 guide is available for £30 from the BSI.