NEWSBYTES(R) Top Story

W3C Proposes Guidelines On Web Accessibility

25 Mar 1999, 3:12 PM CST
By Laura Randall, Newsbytes.
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A.,


  Charging that most Web sites don't provide adequate
  accessibility for users with disabilities, the World Wide
  Web Consortium (W3C) released draft guidelines on how Web
  site designers and managers can provide better access to all
  Internet users.

  The guidelines, which were developed by the consortium's Web
  Accessibility Initiative, are aimed at creating greater
  awareness in the Web community of users who operate in
  contexts different from the average Web user, including
  persons who are visually or hearing impaired, those who
  cannot a keyboard or mouse and those using text- only
  screens.

  "The majority of large sites are not accessible to people
  with disabilities," Judy Brewer, director of the Web
  Accessibility Initiative, tells Newsbytes. "There's not a
  consistent level of awareness yet among Web developers that
  it's important to maintain accessibility of their sites."

  The World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, is an industry group
  that develops technologies used for the Web. Its hundreds of
  members include AT&T, America Online, IBM, Microsoft and
  SAP. Implementation of the guidelines is subject to member
  approval.

  The guidelines discuss accessibility issues and provide
  accessible design solutions. For example, one way to make
  Web sites more accessible is by using style sheets to
  control font styles and eliminating the font element. This
  gives hypertext markup language (HTML) authors more control
  over their pages and makes those pages more accessible to
  people with low vision.

  Another guideline explains how content developers can make
  images accessible by providing a text equivalent that states
  the purpose of the image. This would allow a blind Internet
  user with a speech synthesizer installed on his computer to
  understand the function of the image. The total cost to the
  Web site designer has yet to be established, Brewer said.

  Other groups are also pushing for improved accessibility on
  the Web. Disabilities Information Resources, a Trenton,
  N.J.-based organization, is urging Web site managers to
  voluntarily provide complete access to Internet users before
  anti-discrimination challenges arise in conjunction with the
  Americans with Disabilities Act.

  "We don't think it's intentional discrimination, but it
  would make more sense to address this before any problems
  arise," DINF spokesman Phil Hall tells Newsbytes

  For the most part, Web sites large and small are unaware of
  the process involved in making their sites accessible and
  maintaining that accessibility, Brewer said.

  Jeff Thomas, director of marketing at iSyndicate, admits
  that accessibility isn't a top priority at the San
  Francisco-based Internet content service provider right now.
  But, he adds: "It's on our radar screen. It seems like
  something we would ethically want to do. The short-term
  answer is we aren't doing anything now. The long-term answer
  is it's definitely something we'd want to consider."

  Reported by Newsbytes News Network, http://www.newsbytes.com
  .

  (1999032499/Contact: Phil Hall, Open City Communications,
  212-714-3575 /WIRES ONLINE/W3C/PHOTO)


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