Accessible Web Design
Making websites accessible to absolutely every person is the ideal we strive for, however in practice no website is likely to actually achieve this ideal. Accessible Web Design is actually an ongoing mindfulness and effort to constantly improve the accessibility of a website to enable more visitors to enjoy it's services.
Accessibility Guidelines
There are numerous national, regional and global web accessibility guidelines to help web developers and website owners meet at least the minimum standards required to make the world wide web a place which is accessible to people who have difficulties using website and mobile internet technologies. While these recommendations are indeed only 'guidelines', in most developed countries there is a statutory requirement to ensure your website meets minimum accessibility standards, which are often the criteria laid out in the following web accessibility guidelines.
W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
UK Human Rights Commision. PAS 78 Accessibility Guidelines
USA Section 508 Web Accessibility Guidelines
German Government's BITV Accessibility Guidelines
Stanca - Italian Government Website Accessibility Guidelines
Accessibility Law
In the UK there are numerous acts of parliament which contain statutes that are applicable to accessible web design, including but not exclusively, the Disability Discrimination Act, Public Records Act, Human Rights Act 1998, Race Relations (Amendment) Act, Data Protection Act, Welsh Language Act and others. There are many other statutory legal requirements that are not necessarily related to accessibility guidelines but do also need to be considered when designing a website including regulations regarding the use of metric units of measurement and copyright laws amongst many others.
While Dorey Media are not legally qualified, we do our best to bear these issues in mind while developing an accessible website, however the final responsibility for the content of a website is with the owner and we do recommend that all our customers have their website thoroughly checked and approved by a qualified legal professional before allowing public access to the site. Out-Law.com publish this document which discusses web accessibility guidelines, UK accessibility law, PAS 78 - the UK accessibility guidelines and advice on choosing a web developer from a legal perspective.
