Accessibility

Website accessibility should be a key consideration for any website owner.

The DDA (Disability Discrimination Act 1995) states that service providers must not discriminate against disabled people. A website is regarded as a service and therefore falls under this law, and as such must be made accessible to everyone.

Accessible websites present a number of benefits to an organisation. Most notably, developing an accessible site will help to ensure that issues of site navigation are information retrieval are properly considered. This will mean users with varying levels of ‘web experience’ will find the site easier to use and will have a more positive experience and thus, feel more inclined to stay and/or return.

Additional benefits of accessible websites include:

• Maintenance costs are generally lower
• PR benefits mean there is less chance of negative publicity
• Easy to find content results in fewer public enquiries
• Users are more likely to trust what you’re offering

Enigma has previously worked with government agencies, city / county councils and corporate companies to develop accessible websites. Some examples of the sites are shown on the right side of this page.

At Enigma, we firmly believe that developing websites in accordance with accessibility guidelines is good practice and our advice would be to always consider accessibility as an integral part of any new website development project. Accordingly, all of the sites we produce conform (as standard) to WAI W3C, Priority 1 (Level A) check-points as a minimum.

If our clients wish to adopt an exemplary approach to accessibility issues, we have a wealth of experience of develop sites to conform to all WAI W3C, Priority 2 (Level AA) or even Priority 3 (AAA) check-points. Although these guidelines can seem extensive, in essence they simply encourage good design practice, and hence do not pose any restrictions to an experienced web designer.

For more information about website Accessibility please refer to the links below.

The Web - Access & Includion for Disabled People

A formal investigation conducted by the Disability Rights Commission