Must try harder
Seventy three per cent of EU government websites fail to conform to known accessibility standards according to a new report.
The results of the survey, launched at the EU Ministerial Conference yesterday showed that only three per cent of 436 websites across the EU Member States passed Level A of the W3C web content accessibility guideline (WCAG 1.0) developed by the World Wide Web Consortium, based on a series of automated and manual checks.
An additional one in ten sites achieved a Limited Pass Level A, which means they passed the automated checks but failed on one or more manual tests.
A further 17 per cent of sites achieved a Marginal Fail Level A, which notes they failed on one or more of the automated checks, but these failure were "limited in extent or scope."
The remainder exhibited "relatively pervasive failures" against the automated checks.
No site tested achieved the much stricter Level Double-A standard.
While the overall results were disappointing, there were several examples of good practice highlighted in the report including:
- Spain Social Security Administration (www.seg-social.es);
- UK Department of Health (www.dh.gov.uk); and
- European Central Bank (www.ecb.int).
These sites show how good design features such as clear layout, simple background with good contrast and features that are linked from the Home Page can have a significant impact on accessibility and usability.
The report identifies a number of common reasons why websites failed the accessibility checks. These are:
- Image 'alt text'
- Frame titles
- Map area 'alt text'
- NOFRAMES content
- Applet 'alt text'
The report also makes a number of recommendations to improve accessibility, including building guidelione requirements into the procurement process for all websites, develop a short term plan to enable a "clear measurable improvement for all websites delivering public services", ensure all content authors are trained in the importance of accessible content and sites should be tested systematically and on a regular basis.
Speaking on behalf of the UK Presidency, Jim Murphy, UK Cabinet Office Minister said:
"I am encouraged by the excellent examples of good practice highlighted in this report but there are clearly widespread failings which must be addressed.
"eAccessibility is an issue for all of us. We know that able and disabled people use online services more when they are designed to meet their needs. The main reason for investing in electronic service delivery is to enable people to access the service more easily. Making technology more inclusive is hugely important for the social and economic well-being of the EU, and that's why we are making digital inclusion a key issue at this conference today."
The research was carried out by a partnership led by the Royal National Institute of the Blind and including AbilityNet, Dublin City University, the Royal National Institute of the Deaf and Socitm.
Related links
eAccessibility of public sector services in the European Union (PDF: 1.26MB)
