BSI develops web accessibility guidelines for disabled users.INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS-(C)1995-2006 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD LTD 1 Laron-type dwarfism 2 Leukotriene D 3 Long-term depression, see there 4. Long-term disability The British Standards Institution (BSI BSI - British Standards Institute ) has developed the new 'Publicly Available Specification - 78' (PAS 78) guidelines on how websites can be made more user-friendly for disabled people. The work was sponsored by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) following its investigation in April 2004 which found that over 80% of websites present barriers to disabled people. PAS 78 provides a guide to good practice for those commissioning accessible websites and is intended to be used particularly by organisations with a public-facing site. The DRC said that those organisations with user-friendly websites will help move toward a barrier-free web industry and will be more likely to benefit from the around GBP GBP In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the British Pound. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 80bn spent each year by people with disabilities. PAS 78 covers various areas including the commissioning, building, publishing and maintaining of websites; defining an accessibility policy; the Web Accessibility Initiative The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)'s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is an effort to improve the accessibility of the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) for people using a wide range of user agent devices, not just standard web browsers. (WAI) guidelines and measures beyond it. BSI said the guidelines will help provide increased online access to products, services and information for disabled people. UK organisations have been legally required, since 1999, to make websites user-friendly for disabled people and the new guidelines are expected to help website owners abide with legislation. The guidance issued under PAS 78 will not be legally binding but may be usable in a court case aimed at forcing an organisation to improve its website accessibility. ((Comments on this story may be sent to info@m2.com)) |
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