Guidelines improve site accessibility

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has updated its guidelines for designing online user agents, including browsers, to make sites more accessible to people with disabilities such as poor eyesight. However, tools complying with the recommendations may also benefit users connecting over slow links and those using PDAs or other devices with small screens.

The guidelines are available here, and are designed to help firms comply with UK and European laws on accessibility. Further changes are possible until 14 November. A final version is expected two weeks after this date. Comments are invited by email.

The W3C said its guidelines do not cover all areas of disability, but added that any user agent conforming to them would promote accessibility. "All users, not just those with disabilities, are expected to find agents that conform to be more usable," it said.

Many Internet users have slow connections or small screens. In these instances they would benefit from the same features that provide better access to people suffering from poor eyesight or blindness, according to the W3C. Last year, supermarket chain Tesco designed its Tesco.com/access site to help people with disabilities, but the stripped-down format also made it appropriate for PDA browsing.

In the US last week, a judge ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act does not apply to Web sites, in a case brought against two airlines. But lawyers said that Web sites are explicitly included in the UK's equivalent act.

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See also:

Sites blind to usability flaws

A lawsuit in the US has highlighted the need for UK firms to comply with disabilities legislation when building Web sites  15 Oct 2002

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