Making sure that disabled people can access your web site is a legal obligation enshrined in the UK's Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA Part 3). Sites that do not comply may be breaking the law and could well get a call from the Disability Rights Commission; or could even face legal action.

In its report, "The Web: Access and Inclusion for Disabled People", a formal investigation conducted by the Disability Rights Commission, the Commission says that where a site owner's response is inadequate, it will be "vigorous" in the use of its enforcement powers. Sanctions include named-party formal investigations of inaccessible websites, and could include provision of support for test cases being brought by individual disabled people.

Ensuring a site provides a totally fulfilling experience for all requires working with users having disabilities as part of the site development.

But at Accentika Internet, compliance with accessibility guidelines is a standard feature. For example, our Accent-on-Business web content management system meets The World Wide Web Web (WWW) Content Accessibility Guidelines , achieving "Triple-A" conformance levels. Sites that meet these guidelines can claim that are satisfying the current standards and are discharging their DDA obligations.

The WWW has identified three levels of priority when designing and building a web site.

• [Priority 1]
  A Web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use web documents.
• [Priority 2]
  A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.
• [Priority 3]
  A Web content developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents.

Conformance Level "A" means that all Priority 1 checkpoints are satisfied. Conformance Level "Double-A" means all Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints are satisfied, and Conformance Level "Triple-A" means all Priority 1, 2, and 3 checkpoints are satisfied

Of course, the primary goal of these guidelines is to promote disabled access. But following them also means it is easier to access a site with a voice browser, mobile phone, automobile-based personal computer etc under awkward conditions such as noisy surroundings, in over-illuminated rooms, in a hands-free environment...

If you would like to discuss building a site to meet disability access requirments (or any other standards such as Dublin Core), please contact us .