Hi WSG, Ive just been informed of a BBC article referencing the UK Government and accessibility.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4478702.stm The stats claimed are actually a lot sharper than I'd imagine but I can see why this is the case. My current contract means I provide ecommerce advice to local businesses as well as support and project manage our organisations internet infrastructure, which is an EU and Government funded org. >From the business angle, I am promoting web standards from a commercially beneficial point of view as it's the language they want to hear. This works very well as it means I have sent out about 400 local businesses to local internet service providers and they are all demanding a site with a strong specification in terms of accessibility and usability. >From the project management angle, I am responsible for delivering a handful of sites that offer event booking, content management, customer relationship management and news delivery system. I sell a specification to the board, the accountants reluctantly agree and it goes to tender. Again, this is great. We have a Government agency with a dedicated budget and a mighty online application they wish to deliver. Here lies the problem, the web design agencies. When either communicating with the board or following up with the businesses, when I take a look at the quotes agencies have provided them with, accessibility is an optional extra or it's the usual "yeah, everything we do is accessible". You know it isn't. I also recently had a chat with a local University lecturer about how to address this. Governments are getting websites they are genuinely informed is up to scratch. They are paying for expert advice and being misinformed so who's fault is this? Is an accountant meant to know about W3C validation? I'm fortunate enough to be in a position to do something about it in my home town. The team and I pulled together a web accessibility event which showed practical use of the web with assistive technology. We called on AbilityNet (http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/), East Sussex Disability Association (http://www.esda.org.uk/) and a usability/accessibility consultant Nikki Rae (http://www.webaccessforeveryone.co.uk/) to deliver information to web designers in the town. There was even a query about it in the accessify forum (http://www.accessifyforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=26737) and to answer that, it was because it was subsidised for local businesses and was only funded for Hastings and the Rother District (sorry guys). This has had a massive impact on the town and we (Hastings) are a force in terms of the delivery of web services. I know this is a long winded mail but it's flagging a solution to the problem on a small scale. Create business demand and awareness and then pull the web design industry in for a slap. How do we address the bigger picture though? Micro-perfection of HTML tags and solid CSS design across even the most stubborn of browsers is not financially viable for the majority of the website market. All comments, suggestions or recommendations welcome. I am also about to sign up for another 2 1/2 years as a consultant for this EU organisation and am looking at more ways to reinforce web standards to the wider region (Sussex, UK). I know a few regional list members are around but a heads up would be good. Offline mails welcome to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Edward Clarke ECommerce and Software Consultant TN38 Consulting http://www.tn38.net http://blog.tn38.net Creative Media Centre 17-19 Robertson Street Hastings East Sussex TN34 1HL United Kingdom ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
