BSI code aims to improve web access for elderly and disabled

Code will help businesses to cater for needs of the disabled and elderly when developing web sites and products

The British Standards Institute (BSI) has released a code of practice for web site developers and operators that aims to improve accessibility for elderly people or those with disabilities.

The standard, called BS8878, was first drafted in 2008 and has since had input from a range of parties including the government, the Royal National Institute of the Blind, The Royal National Institute of the Deaf, the Central Office of Information (COI), the BBC, the BCS, IBM and law firm Pincent Masons.

The 90-page document asserts that a best practice accessibility policy for a web product should research users' needs; recognise the platform and technology preferences of the audience; and acknowledge the user goals and the services the product needs to provide.

The document demonstrates how to create organisational policies and production processes that attempt to identify and remove the digital divide.

The BSI standards head of market development for ICT electronics, Breda Corish, said: "This is a much stronger document as a result of input from our collaborators."

She also explained that when minister of communications Ed Vaizey launched the government's E-accessibility access plan in October, he argued that the document (BS8878) should be central to its development.

The document is a non-technical document but relies on technical standards drafted in the technical paper Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).