Press Centre

New guidance will make websites easier to use for blind people

Summary: Information about Publicly Available Specification 78: Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites (PAS 78).

• Notes to editors

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08 March 2006

RNIB warmly welcomes important new guidance that will help website commissioners ensure the usability of their websites to the UK’s two million people with serious sight problems and many of the other eight million disabled people living in the UK.

RNIB says that the guidance, commissioned by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) and published today by the British Standards Institution (BSI), will provide new clarification for website commissioners on the steps that they should take to ensure that the websites they commission are easy for disabled people to use.

The guidance is called Publicly Available Specification 78: Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites (or PAS 78).

RNIB’s Digital Policy Development Manager, Julie Howell, helped write PAS 78 as a member of a panel of eight industry advisors that also included Abilitynet, BBC, Cabinet Office, IBM, RNIB. Tesco.com, University College London and the Usability Professionals Association.

Julie Howell said: “RNIB warmly welcomes the publication of this guidance. Many website commissioners have a lot of goodwill towards disabled customers. However, confusion over how to implement best practice has meant the number of usable websites is very low.

“I am optimistic that PAS 78 will provide the clear guidance that web commissioners so desperately need and which will lead to a more accessible web for everyone. RNIB is delighted to be involved in this crucial project, and commends DRC and BSI for joining forces to highlight this issue.”

Poor access to websites for disabled people was exposed in 2004 in research published by the DRC that revealed 81 per cent of one thousand UK websites they surveyed failed to meet even the most basic criteria for web accessibility.

The research showed that blind and partially sighted people have the worst online experience, with 71 per cent of them failing certain basic web-based tasks owing to poor standards of website design. PAS 78 describes general principles of good web design that include:

• Involving disabled people in the design process
• Inviting disabled people to regularly test designs
• Developing a website accessibility policy
• Upholding accessibility guidelines published by the World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative

PAS 78 was reviewed prior to publication by a 200-strong Review Panel that included website developers and commissioners from a broad range of industries, as well as disabled web users.

For more information contact Bill Alker or Paul McDonald at the RNIB Press Office on 020 7391 2223 (Out of hours mobile 07968 482812). Ref: 54.

Buy a copy of PAS 78 from BSI.

Notes to editors

1. PAS 78 is available for purchase from BSI (http://www.bsi-global.com) Priced £30 + VAT. The PAS is available in large print, accessible PDF, braille, Word, and Daisy audio formats. It is also available in Welsh.

2. Further information about web accessibility: Web Access Centre

3. Every day another 100 people will start to lose their sight. There are around two million people in the UK with sight problems. RNIB is the leading charity working in the UK offering practical support, advice and information for anyone with sight difficulties. If you, or someone you know, has a sight problem, RNIB can help. Call the RNIB Helpline on 0845 766 9999 or visit www.rnib.org.uk

Content author: pressoffice@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 06/03/2008 15:41