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http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital/webshop.htm

ROYAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR THE BLIND

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Executive summary


Making Internet shopping accessible

Contents

  * Inttroduction
  * The legal case
  * The business case
  * Access campaigns
  * Research findings
  * RNIB's recommendations
  * Further information


Introduction

Blind and partially sighted people are being excluded from one
of the most important technological breakthroughs of recent
years. The ability to use the world wide web to meet personal,
education, information and shopping needs is being denied to
blind and partially sighted people by
a lack of inclusive design and a general ignorance by businesses
and webmasters of the simple steps that can make websites
accessible for all.

There are 1.7 million people in the UK who are blind and
partially sighted. Research shows serious sight loss often
curtails independent mobility and the ability to get the
information needed to participate fully in society. The
opportunities the world wide web provides for distance learning,
shopping and communication could revolutionise the lives of
blind and partially sighted people. It could reduce dependence
on others and it could give a community that is often excluded,
a voice in the 'information society'.

The technology exists, and is becoming cheaper, to allow people
with no sight to use computers, using speech synthesis and
braille displays. However, many websites are inaccessible for
blind and partially sighted people as they are not properly
designed.

The legal case

RNIB believes there should be a legal requirement for web
services to be accessible to disabled people within the spirit
of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). The
introduction of the first DDA provisions in 1996 and then again
in 1999 put accessible information on the agenda of many
companies, in some cases for the first time. Section 21 of the
Act, introduced on 1 October 1999, placed a duty on service
providers to make information about their services accessible
for blind and partially sighted people. This has significant
implications for company websites.

As many websites are set up in the USA, another important
development in the legal case is provided by Section 508 of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This Act mandates that
all federal electronic and information purchases made after 7
August 2000 must be made accessible to people with disabilities.

The business case

Making websites accessible to blind and partially sighted
people, and all disabled people, also makes good business sense.
RNIB is approached by an overwhelming number of commercial
organisations looking to make websites accessible for financial
reasons. The main business obstacle remains ignorance: ignorance
of the potential purchasing power of disabled people, and
ignorance of the ease with which inclusive design can be
introduced.

Access campaigns

In 1993, RNIB launched the See it Right initiative to make
companies and organisations aware of the need to make
information accessible to blind and partially sighted people,
and offered practical advice on doing this. In May 1999, RNIB
launched a campaign for Good Web Design.
This report is part of that campaign.

Research findings

RNIB carried out research for this report in August 2000,
testing the websites of 17 high street stores and banks against
a set of accessibility criteria, in order to establish the
accessibility of their sites to blind and partially sighted
people.

The results were extremely disappointing. All companies in the
study failed to meet the needs of blind and partially sighted
people.
No company achieved a 100 per cent pass rate against the five
criteria. Some websites even failed every aspect of the test.

Banks

Of the three high street banks we visited online, all failed our
assessment, even though banking is regarded as a universal
essential service. Setting up a current account or paying bills
is not currently an option for many blind and partially sighted
people.

Supermarkets

Online supermarkets performed particularly badly in the
research. Three major chains failed four out of the five
criteria. We know that blind and partially sighted people find
getting to the shops, and reading food labels, very difficult
and now it seems they cannot even benefit from shopping delivery.

Fast food

RNIB found little attempt made by pizza delivery companies to
provide accessible websites.

Clothing and retail stores

Three of the four clothing stores failed miserably, passing only
two out of fifteen criteria between them. Poor design made entry
into the sites very difficult for people using access
technologies. The clothes on sale lacked text descriptions,
leaving blind customers wondering if the beaded satin mules
would match the easy-fit trousers!

The most common cause of inaccessibility was poor or
inappropriate coding of HyperText Mark up Language (HTML), the
programming language of the web. Careless coding included: image
files that were not supported by alternative text, upon which
access technology is reliant to convert the image into something
meaningful to blind Net users; poor implementation of frames;
and a failure to provide a screen design that was easy to read.
This rendered the pages useless to blind internet users.

RNIB's recommendations

Based on the findings of this research, RNIB sets out the
following recommendations:

  * RNIB urges all designers to take responsibility to ensure
    everyone, regardless of ability or disability, can read
    their designs.

  * RNIB recommends use of the Web Accessibility Initiative's
    Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, a set of standards
    which ensures websites are accessible for all customers (see
    Chapter 3). While this report does not explore all of the
    technicalities of web design in any depth, designers will
    find sufficient guidance and references to set themselves on
    the right path to accessible design.

  * RNIB encourages companies who have websites, or who are
    planning to launch them, to recognise the needs of blind and
    partially sighted customers. If businesses fail to do so,
    they are potentially losing out on 8.5 million disabled
    customers, not to mention their friends, relatives and
    carers.

  * RNIB strongly encourages blind and partially sighted people
    to contact organisations whose websites are inaccessible and
    to raise the issue directly.

  * Finally, we hope the companies featured in this report will
    realise that the discrimination created through inaccessible
    websites is unacceptable and unnecessary. RNIB urges those
    companies to take the necessary steps to improve the design
    of their online services.

A full copy of the report is available for œ5.00 from RNIB
Customer Services on 0845-702 3153.


c 2000 RNIB
Registered charity number 226227
This page is maintained by the Web Development Team (Updated 7
September 2000)


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