Accessibility requirements

Hi folks, hope to get some guidance regarding compliance of websites for local government. I produce some websites for Parish Councils and they need to be compliant ( by end Sept) with the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018.

The requirements which need a lawyer to decipher ( like all legislation) basically are an extension of the disability act and extended to making all the websites accessible and cover:

vision – severely sight impaired (blind), sight impaired (partially sighted) or colour blind people
hearing – people who are deaf or hard of hearing
mobility – those who find it difficult to use a mouse or keyboard
thinking and understanding – people with dyslexia, autism or learning difficulties

They look at how sites can be made to meet these needs:

use a keyboard instead of a mouse
change browser settings to make content easier to read
use a screen reader to ‘read’ (speak) content out loud
use a screen magnifier to enlarge part or all of a screen
use voice commands to navigate a website

I have gone through and cannot see how my xara websites can be updated to meet these new requirements. It of course doesn't say whether it is required that text readers etc have to be accessible directly from the site or whether instructions need to be in place as to where (o/s or browser) they can be accessed by those needing them.

Anyone help me through the minefield

Ken

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Originally Posted by mentorman

Hi folks, hope to get some guidance regarding compliance of websites for local government. I produce some websites for Parish Councils and they need to be compliant ( by end Sept) with the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018.

The requirements which need a lawyer to decipher ( like all legislation) basically are an extension of the disability act and extended to making all the websites accessible and cover:

vision – severely sight impaired (blind), sight impaired (partially sighted) or colour blind people
hearing – people who are deaf or hard of hearing
mobility – those who find it difficult to use a mouse or keyboard
thinking and understanding – people with dyslexia, autism or learning difficulties

They look at how sites can be made to meet these needs:

use a keyboard instead of a mouse
change browser settings to make content easier to read
use a screen reader to ‘read’ (speak) content out loud
use a screen magnifier to enlarge part or all of a screen
use voice commands to navigate a website

I have gone through and cannot see how my xara websites can be updated to meet these new requirements. It of course doesn't say whether it is required that text readers etc have to be accessible directly from the site or whether instructions need to be in place as to where (o/s or browser) they can be accessed by those needing them.

Anyone help me through the minefield

Ken

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Ken, a number of things are out of your hands.

Keyboard navigation - browsers already allow tabbing through content. You just have to make the content more meaningful. More later.
Browser setting changes - out of your control. You can use Scale to Fit to ensure largest screen coverage.
Screen Reader - out of your control. You just have to make the content more meaningful. More later.
Screen Magnifier - out of your control.
Voice Commands - out of your control.

Things you must do:

• Use H1/H2/H3 Tags properly.
• Change all major images to meaningful and relevant Image Filenames (v17.0).
• Ensure all images have Alt text.
• Avoid pop-ups and flashing intros.
• Replace Xara Navbars with properly marked up CSS.
• Ditto for Tables with data rather than just presentational.
• Possibly change larger text blocks by adding the Name HTMLBlockText.
• Work to a target like https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/...ty-principles/ or get the Regulations Texting approach.

Acorn

Yours is a parish council website. Most parich council sites appear to be created either by volunteers or web designers working for very low return for their work. Peanuts basically.

The regulation does allow for:

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When complying with accessibility regulations might be a ‘disproportionate burden’

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Whilst I totally agree that accessibilty is a goal we should all strive for, such things cost money. If you can't reach these standards should you therefore take down your parish council website? Of course not. Try to follow the guidance as much as possible (and Acorns advice is far more concise than the uk.gov sites guidance). I hardly think there will be an internet police force chasing you down because of your non conformity by the end of September, no more than there's one doing so re non-cookie notices.

Over the years I have gone on about accessibility and how Xara's approach is lacking.

Here is a comprehensive rundown of what would be perfect in an accessible Rich Internet Application (ARIA): https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices/.

To show how complicated it can get, read https://www.htmhell.dev/20-close-buttons/, which is just for a Close button.

I use PortableApps, which has free accessibility products: DSpeech & Virtual Magnifying Glass.
These could be used to check how poorly assistive technoligies fare with a Xara design.

Acorn

Thanks guys,you have confirmed my initial thoughts regarding having a site compliance to the Nth degree (and undefined). It is of course a matter of common sense in attempting to do whatever you can or is possible to meet the requirements.Will wade through the links given and advice offered and do my best and hope for the best.

Much thanks to the excellent team of Egg & Acorn. I feel a logo coming on;))

Ken

We got an inquiry from a blind man who asked if our home study courses would work for him since we use so much visualization in them. I assured him that blind people often do better than sighted people. He loves the course.

I asked him to check the site and let me know how it worked for him. He sent me a recording of his screen reader and it was terrible. I couldn't even figure out what the screen reader was doing while I was looking at the home page!

It read the main title, then the copyright notice in the footer, then something from the sidebar, then a section from the main page body, then back to the sub-title at the top, then to something else in the side bar - it was AWFUL.

Turns out that he build Wordpress websites and blogs on them. So I asked him if he could teach me how to build a Wordpress website. He did. My new blind friend taught me how to build a Wordpress website. It works much better with the screen reader.

So I went back to the Xara site and put a very short note at the top, with a link, to Visit our Screen Reader Friendly website.

I was hoping that the screen reader would find it quickly. But it didn't. I tried it in the header, at the top of the sidebar, etc. Finally found a spot where it doesn't take too long to get to it.

My conclusion is that the best way to make a Xara site screen reader friendly is to replace it with a Wordpress site.

Have moved this to Dear Xara in hopes that someone will see it and take note. Not holding my breath though.

Thanks. My best friend in college (60 years ago) was blind, and through him I met most of the other blind students. Life is hard for them. That is why I set up a 35-page "accessible" website with all of the information from our main Xara website. Not to make money, but to help people.

The typical blind person has better visualization than most sighted people. They use their hands to "see" what you look like - they place their hands gently on your face. That is how they can "visualize" your face later on.

Anything we can do to help make life a little easier for them is worth doing, imho.

Ed

I’m a bit saddened, but not surprised to read that accessibility is still such an issue nowadays. Producing highly accessible websites should be a natural, ethical starting (and selling) point and benefit to all.

I don't do anything webby now, but I was involved with the creation and maintenance of an intranet website for a local government organisation in 2001. In those days websites were often ‘hard coded’ (and hand coded) using programs like Macromedia Dreamweaver, but even back then, accessibility was a hot topic to be taken seriously and designed in from the start.

The latest UK government guidance can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/he...e-your-service