PAS 78: A Guide to Accessible Websites
Category: Web Standards
Is your website as accessible as it should be?
Well, with the help of this document, it can be.
PAS 78 is free (one copy per person) and available in either Word or PDF format.
Just downloaded it myself and it’s a handy document to print off. That way, you can look up those quick questions during your next web project. e.g. “What are the conditions for using Javascript?”
Download link:
http://www.drc.org.uk/library/website_accessibility_guidance/pas_78.aspx
I know that we, as a company, kinda try to adhere to accessibility standards, but it’s mainly lip service with anyone I’ve worked with.
When the client wants a really fancy piece of functionality, whether it be in js or flash or a servlet or (heven forbid) an ocx or whatever, they will not be put off by “0.02% of our user base will struggle to view this valuable enhancement to our site”. The client will, in my experience, always say something like “well, let’s put it in and see if we can come up with a workaround later”.
And quite rightly so. Call me Harshy McHarsherson if you will, but if my client wants some fancy, on-the-fly menu functionality that helps *almost* all of our clients but can only be done in js with a ton of DOM work and doesn’t render in Lynx, then why should he be stopped from spending his money as he will?
We don’t, after all, refuse to put in complex functionality because people unfortunate enough to be born a bit thick won’t be able to use it. And that may sound like a poor joke, but in fact it’s a *very* serious point.
Point taken Endie. But I think you can have the best of both worlds in most cases. If you are going to put in some cool Ajax menus, then you also need to put in a version that works when their visitor’s javascript is disabled. Yes it’s more work, but all good sites come from hard work : )
Also, for a real world example, look at the the mobile world. Phones, PDA, etc are not quite there yet, but one day we’ll all be browsing on our mobile devices like it’s second nature. And when that does happen, the sites that adhere to web standards and accessibility will have the easiest transition. Mobile phone can’t handle that cool new ajax menu? No worries, it will default to the standard text menu.