FAQs

2. I'm a bit confused about what accessibility actually is and what the legal requirements are.

The accessibility of websites covers much more than just disabled access. It means delivering unhindered access to a website through various devices, i.e. televisions, phones, PDAs. It also means appreciating screen sizes, resolutions, browsers and settings and issues such as Macromedia Flash and Director.

As an organisation commissioning a website, you are legally bound to make it accessible to the disabled – if it doesn’t meet certain standards, you could be sued for discrimination. However, there is no precedent for this to date in the UK. In addition, the law on disabled access is ambiguous and nobody knows for certain what level of access is required of UK websites. The consensus is that best practice dictates a minimum accessibility level as defined by the W3C.

The W3C sets out three conformance levels known as Priority 1, 2 and 3. According to the W3C a website must satisfy Priority 1, otherwise some users will find it impossible to access the site. The other two levels are recommended guidelines. So, to be safe, a website should comply with the Priority 1 stipulation.

Levels of required accessibility should be discussed in detail with the client, especially as more creative and visually interesting sites will not comply with the lower level priorities. Redmoth recommends that this be addressed clearly in the Agreement for Services to avoid liability for failure to comply with accessibility legislation.

developing a brief | accessibility | IP | marketing
hosting | user scenarios | costs | site structure

Read more about accessibility >>

www.w3.org/WAI
www.rnib.org.uk
www.drc-gb.org
www.out-law.com (for legal aspects concerning accessibility)