General

Technical compliance is improving

Technical compliance against the Web Guidelines is improving, and this is a positive indicator of increasing accessibility. Web page ‘infrastructure’ is improving in its construction and is therefore more likely to be accessible to a wider range of end-user devices and technology.

Compliance is only the first step

This survey’s findings indicate compliance with Web Guidelines is only the first step on the accessibility journey. People involved in website development need to understand why the rules and guidelines are there. A good user experience will more likely result where the intention or spirit of the Web Guidelines are followed than the letter or detail.

The findings also indicate the importance of user testing with disabled people who experience a variety of barriers, and the need for a wider understanding of accessible web development best practice. This best practice can only be partially measured by objective standards.

A website that is accessible and enables the use by a range of disabled people will increase the good experience of all other New Zealanders. For example, in the use of plain English, simple content structures, effective colour contrast, and good web page organisation.

Implications for the Office for Disability Issues

The findings show a trend in the right direction as sites and site owners move towards greater accessibility. However, there is still a long way to go to providing a fully accessible experience for users.

Some sites would benefit from a change in focus from being large repositories of information, that the public can come and browse their way through, to more task-focussed sites that allow users to easily find commonly needed information. Sites designed this way have rated highly in both this survey and the 2005 survey.

Implications for State Services Commission

The e-government Web Standards are a sound foundation for accessibility of government websites. However, an increased promotion of best practice will make a real difference to the experience of New Zealanders.

The improvement in compliance to Web Guidelines indicates that there is a positive shift in the technical area of web development. However, in the pursuit of compliance as an end in itself the focus can be diverted from the end-user experience. Compliance against standards is only a milestone on the way to full accessibility.

For example, as evidenced in the findings, sites may have an accessibility statement and are thus compliant in the strict sense to that standard. However, the placement and ease of access to that statement, and the usefulness of the information presented, can be unsatisfactory in terms of real user experience.

The key outcome sought when working on websites should be ensuring a good user experience. A website that is accessible will go far in making the user experience a good one.

A temptation is to become more prescriptive, for example to define more closely the parameters for an accessibility statement. This approach is not recommended. Instead, a better approach is to more fully and clearly outline the purpose, function and value of the accessibility statement and allow designers the latitude to fulfil the purpose in their own way – and, of course, test the result with people that have a range of abilities to make sure this has been achieved. 

Implications for individual agencies

Sites that fully comply with Web Guidelines will have removed a significant number of accessibility barriers. Hence, the first step is for agencies to comply with the standards and apply its recommendations to remove as many accessibility barriers as possible.

Appendix 5 lists accessibility barriers that were found in this survey and potential solutions are provided. However, many of these barriers and solutions are covered by the Web Guidelines.

Agencies should consider testing by disabled people and other users to make sure websites are effective in communicating with New Zealanders and provide value for money to government.

Best practice for usability is to conduct usability testing. Indeed it is the only way to guarantee usability. The same principle applies with accessibility. This can only be achieved by a person using a website and reporting back on their experience.