Chapter 1
Introduction
Microsoft and HiSoftware believe there is now the opportunity and the imperative to make real progress toward a more inclusive society through an accessible Web.
The Riga Ministerial Declaration of June 11, 2006 emphasizes that “only 3% of public Web sites surveyed comply with the minimum Web accessibility standards and guidelines, hindering access to Web content and services for people with disabilities who comprise some 15% of the EU population.” The declaration sets an ambitious policy goal: 100% of public Web sites to be accessible by 2010.
The tools and strategies to address this problem exist which means it is possible to make significant and rapid improvement with reasonable effort and expense. Web accessibility can be an area of sincere focus for organizations of all types and sizes today. Education and training represent some of the biggest obstacles for public agencies and private sector enterprises to create accessible Web sites – simply knowing what to do and how to do it.
Recognizing that the disappointing statistics show that we are not where we would like to be with Web accessibility and knowing that the tools exist to make progress, we asked ourselves, “What can be done?” We decided to conduct a series of Web accessibility dialogues. Not simply a single day or an ad hoc event, but a process that would lead us from Lisbon to Vienna to the next e Inclusion Conference and beyond—to real, measurable progress.
Throughout 2008, Microsoft gathered government officials, industry leaders, and non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives across several European countries as part of a series of interactive dialogues on the current state of Web accessibility. The objective of the Dialogues was to explore how critical players in both public organizations and private industry can work together on solutions that create a more accessible World Wide Web. The Dialogues featured robust conversation that both framed the challenges faced by proponents of Web accessibility and illuminated various solutions that organizations are using to realize the shared goal of an accessible Web environment.
This Handbook from Microsoft and HiSoftware is one result of the European Dialogues on Web Accessibility. It combines practical strategies with some of the perspectives, goals, and vision that came out of those Dialogues. Our intent is to provide a tool that will help organizations worldwide foster accessibility in their operations.
The handbook begins with a summary of the important knowledge shared at the series of European Dialogues on Web Accessibility. Those lessons-learned and best practices are followed by an example process for implementing a comprehensive Web accessibility program in any organization. Building on that framework, there is an example of a product and community that helps organizations implement some of the practical strategies from the Dialogues. Finally, the Handbook offers some specific tools and tips to understand and meet Web accessibility standards.
Chapter 2
Summary of European Dialogues on Web Accessibility - Practical Strategies for an Accessible Web
For Microsoft and HiSoftware, the purpose of the European Dialogues on Web Accessibility was very specifically to create a body of knowledge that can be reused to improve the state of Web accessibility across Europe and worldwide. Our approach was to bring together people with in-depth Web accessibility expertise but with different perspectives. We intentionally included representatives from both the public and private sectors and from non-governmental organizations (NGOs). We designed the Dialogues to be very interactive in order to uncover and share the greatest amount of knowledge and experience.
This summary is an attempt to reflect many of the insights, questions, and solutions that were uncovered and explored during the Dialogues. Like the Dialogues, the summary focuses on three important topics: the business imperative for broader Web accessibility, challenges for Web accessibility, and strategies for an accessible Web.
Business Imperatives for Web Accessibility
There is real economic opportunity with accessible Web sites. One of the most important outcomes of the Dialogues was the identification of several compelling reasons for why an accessible Web makes good business sense. Some of those reasons include:
Market Benefits
The number one reason for making a Web site accessible is to allow people to access your services and your site effectively and easily. It is not just to meet a series of checkpoints.
The estimated overall economic opportunity associated with Web accessibility, as determined by the Directorate-General for Information Society and Media, is €85 billion over the next five years.
Across the European Union (EU), improving accessibility for the elderly population means improving access to holders of more than €3 trillion, or approximately one-third of the European economy.
Half of those elderly Europeans are not only willing to spend their money on a better quality of life, but are called ‘hedonistic’: they want to spend their money on a better quality of life. Often they cannot find products and services that meet their needs and abilities.
Accessible content opens doors to more consumers. In many cases, Web content built with accessibility in mind is more popular with audiences than content that does not consider accessibility.
Accessible content helps recruit loyal customers. When customers can work with an organization’s online presence, they can better complete purchases and improve conversion rates. Customers will return to those sites that provide them with a positive experience.
In many European markets there has been an almost explosive growth in internet shopping. It is important that consumers can find the button that lets them buy something. As many consumers as possible need to get there in order to increase sales.
This is not a minority issue. Microsoft Research shows that more than 60% of internet users would benefit from using an accessible Web page, even if they do not have any disabilities. Accessibility is a majority issue. Everyone gains; it is a win-win proposition.
Many people are affected by Web accessibility. In addition to people with disabilities, people who are elderly, people who are accessing the Web from mobile phones and people who are accessing it in a second language all benefit from accessible content.
There are many excellent examples where Web accessibility has been a challenge, been addressed, and led to a direct business benefit. One example is a large, international grocery store chain. They had created a Web site for online shopping that looked fantastic but inaccessible. They used additional resources to create a second, accessible site. It generated significant revenue in the first year, because everyone liked using it. The company has now moved to a single site solution – the accessible one.
Another example is a large financial services company based in the UK. It had an issue with its portal and was not seeing sales conversions on products, such as life insurance policies. There were complaints about the accessibility and usability of the site. It did a complete revamp of the site and found that, overnight, there was a 90% increase in sales of life insurance policies. The increase was due to improvement of the entire user experience but accessibility was a fundamental component.
Accessibility is “the gift that keeps giving.” Benefits from Web accessibility go well beyond legal compliance and risk. For an organization there can be usability and productivity benefits, cost reductions, technical infrastructure improvements, wider markets, increased staff retention and better talent management.
For many organizations, including governmental bodies, financial services companies, and so on, conducting business online is considerably cheaper than conducting business offline.
Adopting an accessibility strategy early on enables an organization to implement it on its own schedule. Retrofitting sites after they launch is considerably more expensive that developing accessible content from scratch. Many organizations are already faced with legislation that requires that they provide accessible content, and the threat of expanding legislation is very real for a number of industries. Companies that engage an accessibility strategy soon can get ahead of legislation, as well as develop and implement content on their own terms and budget before it is mandated and before losing customers.
Adopting an accessibility strategy puts an organization in a leadership position. Fostering accessibility is the right thing to do, and it’s not prohibitively expensive. Taking an early stand allows an organization to position itself as a leader in its sector and present excellent opportunities for positive press and free marketing.
If Web pages are more accessible, they will receive more hits and will move higher up in search engine results. Search engines make ranking decisions based on the same information that assistive technologies use to create an accessible user experience, including document structure and alternative text.
The technical benefits of an accessible Web site are numerous. An accessible Web site is easier to translate into a different language, easier to internationalize, and easier to render on a mobile phone. Maintenance costs can be reduced and better search engine optimization can be achieved—driving more people to the site. This is in addition to increasing conversion rates and getting a better return on the investment by reducing running costs.
Workplace Benefits
Organizations want to attract the best talent. In the UK, 6% of honors graduates are students with disabilities but 85% of online recruitment systems are inaccessible to them.
In the UK, 78% of people with disabilities became disabled during their working lives. Accessible Web sites can help them keep their jobs.
Employees with disabilities are often the most loyal. Whereas the average employee might change jobs every two to three years, employees with disabilities tend to stay in jobs considerably.
Much of the power of corporate intranets is contingent on every single employee being able to perform tasks. Using the intranet as a communication tool broadly improves engagement and responsiveness within an organization.
It makes no sense to move employees to an intranet and then produce a version in Braille. With accessible intranets, printing costs are reduced.
Many organizations report that staff members with disabilities are highly motivated contributors. If an organization can use Web and intranet accessibility to attract and retain them, it would be a clear benefit.
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