26 November 2004
Companies and organisations with inaccessible web sites are not only failing to comply with Australian Government regulations, they risk losing customers and wasting money needlessly because they do not understand their users, according to eBusiness and information management consultants, iFocus.
Access to web sites is described by the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) as '…designing web pages so they can be navigated and read by everyone regardless of location, experience or type of computer technology used'.
Accessibility is generally referred to in the context of providing a way for the disabled or disadvantaged to access web sites, similar to regulations that buildings must provide wheelchair access. Companies that do not make their web sites accessible may be prosecuted under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). However, iFocus believes that accessibility is fundamental to good communication.
'All web design should start with the user in mind first', said Andrew Stevens, a senior consultant with iFocus’s Solutions Division. 'If a site genuinely caters for a diverse group of users, then it should be easy to access', he said.
Many large companies and organisations fall into the trap of making accessibility low priority, or treat it with scorn because it is required by law. 'These same organisations don’t realise that inaccessible web sites are costing them money', he said.
According to Mr Stevens, inaccessible web sites may repel four main groups as potential customers:
Rural Users
'Companies are missing rural users as customers because of slower Internet speeds in rural Australia. Accessible web design considers that not everybody has the latest hardware or a fast Internet connection', he said.
The Aged
'There is no excuse for inaccessibility in an ageing population', Mr Stevens said. 'Sites must cater for the visual and hearing impaired, and include people with temporary disabilities.'
The Disabled
HREOC claim that one in five Australians is disabled, and that the proportion is growing. 'That’s a lot of potential users to be turning away', Mr Stevens said.
Non-committed customers
'A loyal customer might be prepared to navigate their way through an inefficient site, but there is a real chance that non-committed users won’t stick around. Is it realistic to expect someone to wait for your graphics and animations to download? Can you afford to exclude the large numbers of people still on dial up modems? It often reflects poor research and design', he said.
Besides allowing companies and organisations to reach all users, accessible web sites have cost advantages, according to Mr Stevens. He cites the experience of Fairfax Digital, a large network of sites catering for 6,000,000 unique visitors, and with 135,000,000 page impressions per month. They moved to a standards based design in late 2003 and expect to save $1,000,000 in data transfer charges over twelve months. 'What’s more, their sites download faster and are more compliant', Mr Stevens said.
'Not only can accessible web sites make you money by having a greater reach, they can save organisations money from being constructed more efficiently, with the real bonus being that it provides a better experience for the user and increases the likelihood they will return to the site', he said.
Gian Sampson-Wild, the Principal of PurpleTop, who has recently partnered with iFocus to create Australia’s leading accessibility unit, says that too many organisations overestimate the time and cost involved with making a web site accessible. 'It does not have to be expensive, especially if it has been considered in the preliminary stages of web design', she said. Gian is a Member of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Committee and is currently working on the second draft of these international guidelines.
Ms Sampson-Wild says that design and interface concepts should consider all users as a starting point. Companies and organisations should also have their web content editors trained for their role in site compliance. 'They need to know how their writing affects others', Ms Sampson-Wild said. 'Sites are at risk of losing compliance because of site editing. For those who understand accessibility guidelines, compliance becomes automatic.'
Some basics of an accessible web site might include:
- Text that can be resized for the vision impaired.
- A reasonable level of bandwidth, i.e. not excessive in terms of graphics, animations or audio.
- Written transcripts for audio material.
- Alternative text on an informational image: for the users whose browser does not support images, this text is what they see (or hear) in place of the image.
- Possible navigation without a mouse.
- Links that can be understood out of context.
- Interactive content supported by all browsers.
Ms Sampson-Wild said that much of this can easily be incorporated into a web site's content editing once a site has been developed in conjunction with accessibility guidelines. She recommends that organisations refer to the current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which provides standards for web site accessibility and is common best practice for all Australian Government sites.
Organisations can test their web sites for accessibility by using online auditing tools and by using focus groups. 'There are several auditing tools, such as PurpleCop and Bobby that can measure a site’s accessibility. It also pays to test web sites on an audience', Ms Sampson-Wild said.
iFocus is an eBusiness and information management consultancy that was founded in 2000. The company has been recently ranked 14th in BRW’s Fast 100 list of companies, placing it as the fastest growing company in Australia’s IT professional services sector.
For further information please contact:
Andrew Stevens or Gian Sampson-Wild
iFocus Pty Ltd
Phone: 03 8807 0100
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