Accessibility
Lime Thinking believes that as a company, we have an ethical
responsibility to ensure that our sites are available to everyone. Website
accessibility is the area concerned with making this happen.
The discipline of website accessibility considers the ease of use of the website for everyone. Its primary focus is on users living with various impairments and then investigates ways to conquer or mitigate their effects. It doesn't just stop there as it includes an area of study that concerns everyone, seeing some examples of bad accessibility is an easy way to understand the basics of the subject.
Typically, independent and existing technologies have been developed to be used by people with visual, hearing and motor skill impairments. They have been modified to be used with web browsers, and all that is required is that the site is properly developed with these technologies in mind. Despite how easy it is to accomplish, many sites are not developed with accessibility in mind.
There are significant legal consequences of ignoring the guidelines that have been put in place by numerous bodies. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) lays out the guidelines for web site accessibility. Part III of the DDA refers to the provision of goods, facilities and services. The Code of Practice, which specifically mentions websites, it can be downloaded in its entirety from the DRC website but the relevant quotes from the 175-page Code of Practice are:
(p7): "The Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public."
(p39): "From 1st October 1999 a service provider has to take reasonable steps to change a practice which makes it unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of its services."
(p71): "For people with visual impairments, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to provide to ensure that services are accessible might include ... accessible websites."
These requirements obviously must be considered when designing any professional website, not only as a matter of ethical consideration but also to prevent against litigation in the future.
Despite all these legal requirements, it just doesn't make sense to exclude a large amount of potential customers just by not getting things right.
Contact us about Accessibility
A new microsite to showcase innovative products to an international
market.
A fully designed Content Management System with a very restricted budget
to a tight timescale.
A beautifully designed ecommerce platform with an integrated Content
Management System (CMS) and an adobe flash promotion banner.
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Registered Office Address - The Malt House, Lincoln Road, Tuxford, Newark, Nottinghamshire NG22 0JQ.