As published in The Public Sector Informant, December 2010.

December is always a big month for government departments as project teams rush to meet end of year deadlines. This year they will be keeping an eye on another deadline – the completion of the first phase of the Government’s National Transition Strategy to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). This strategy will ensure that all government websites will provide easy
access for everyone, regardless of age, ethnicity or disability.

Consider this – one in five Australians (or about four million people) report that they have some type of disability*. Unable to use many websites and online information systems because of poor design, this is more than just an annoyance to affected users.

Websites, particularly government sites, contain essential information and services many users cannot access. It’s a little like requiring a wheelchair bound person to visit a building without providing any ramps.

WCAG 2.0, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium, is a set of guidelines designed to improve the ease with which people, particularly those with disabilities, can interact with websites. For example, visually impaired users may not use a monitor and a mouse in the same way as a sighted person, relying on a screen reader to audibly read contents of a web page.

If sites are not designed and built with accessibility in mind it can be very difficult (if not impossible) for people using assistive technologies to access the content or services on a website.

What needs to be recognised however, is that web accessibility is about providing universal access and an effective user experience. While this does cater for the needs of people with hearing, cognitive and motor impairments, it also caters for a much broader audience.

It includes the guy who forgot to pack the mouse in his laptop bag and is keyboard dependent; the lady who broke her glasses and squints an inch from the screen; the international visitor trying to understand your instructions; and the kid who lives in rural Australia still waiting for your page to finish loading. Good accessibility = a better user experience all round.

Transitioning towards accessibility

Transitioning all government websites to meet these standards is certainly no small job and is being carried out in several phases over the next four years.

The first step is to undertake a nationwide stocktake by the end of December this year, whereby departments and agencies must report on the WCAG 2.0-readiness of their websites, web infrastructure and staff capabilities. This will provide a snapshot of how much work is required to make all sites WCAG 2.0 compliant.

Throughout 2011 agencies will then enter a transition phase where they will be required to gain the skills to implement WCAG 2.0 compliance, as well as complete infrastructure and capability upgrades to technology and systems. The implementation of WCAG 2.0 will then take place until December 2014.

Any websites and web content created after July 2010 that won’t be archived or decommissioned before December 2012, are required to at least meet the minimum compliance level by the end of 2012 (Single A level).

Risk of non-compliance

If your department doesn’t meet minimum accessibility levels, it runs the risk of discriminating against users with a disability and breaching the Disability Discrimination Act, not to mention damaging your reputation.

Australia has already seen a number of complaints brought to the Human Rights Commission, including a vision impaired government employee making a complaint against her department because she could not access information provided on its intranet. This demonstrates that not only should external websites be reviewed, but intranets and other interfaces used by internal staff
must also be included.

Best practice design approach

There are a number of reasons why accessibility is a best practice design approach. Not only does it ensure the ease of use for a broad range of users, but meeting accessibility standards makes it easier for your website to be accessed by everyone, regardless of device, location or technology.

With the increasing prevalence of mobile devices, particularly iPads and smartphones, ensuring the clear separation between the presentation and content on your site is important and will help ensure the portability of your site.

Time for a spring clean

Make the most of these mandatory deadlines – give your website and governance processes a thorough spring clean and review your strategies.

Web publishing has become so easy now that it is common practice to publish content on a website or intranet just because you can. Yet this approach can result in swathes of content with little meaning or value. The majority of PDF documents published, for example, are not accessible but are constantly churned out. Think about the way you publish content.

A good governance strategy will not only ensure that meaningful content is published, but published in an accessible manner, such as exporting into HTML format, rather than just spitting out a non-compliant PDF or Word file.

Online accessibility is just as important as physical accessibility

Accessibility has become an accepted physical design feature in government buildings. Website accessibility should be as ubiquitous as wheelchair ramps and disabled toilets in a building design. They are not viewed as optional extras in building design, so accessibility should not be considered an add-on to website design.

The transition to WCAG 2.0 is not just a technical issue to be solved by your IT teams– it requires change from everyone involved in the delivery of online information and services to ensure that accessibility is not an afterthought, but is integrated throughout our design and implementation strategies.

* Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2003