Accessibility

In a recent survey of a thousand public websites tested by City University's Centre for Human Computer Interaction Design, 81% failed to meet the basic accessibility criteria laid down by the Web Accessibility Initiative, the international standard in this area.

And not a single page tested was fully compliant up to the maximum level, AAA. Only two met the lower AA standard.

At Rural Web design we ensure that our latest sites are A rated.

You can use Watchfire® WebXACTT to scan and analyse any web page for quality, accessibility, and privacy issues. If you decide on another web design company then you can use this tool to check their work or sites.

Watchfire Accessibility Check

Check a page:

Show Advanced / Accessibility Options

According to W3C, the governing body for the World Wide Web, the proportion of people with disabilities can range up to 20 percent in some populations. A significant portion of those people with disabilities, in some countries as many as 8% to 10% of the overall population, can benefit from web delivered content conforming to recommended standards. Disabled people includes those with cognitive, visual, hearing and physical disabilities and the number is growing as people live longer. Nobody is immune from the effects of ageing. So accessibility affects us all.

As well as the vital help it gives to people with disabilities, increasing the accessibility of your online communications will:

• increase sales (if you are selling things)
• increase audience reach
• improve search engine listings
• reduce the load on your server
• reduce demand on your server bandwidth
• reduce site maintenance costs
• reduce the potential of incurring costly legal liabilities