Only 3 out of 100 Sites Meet Accessibility Standard
Posted by Melanie Phung on Monday, December 11, 2006 at 4:28 pm
According to a report released by the United Nations, 97 of the 100 Web sites examined failed to meet minimum accessibility levels for the reading impared (those who are blind or have low-vision disabilities) or individuals who cannot use a computer mouse .
The study looked at five sectors intended to reflect a key area of interaction for people online, and sites from 20 countries were chosen to represent those sectors, forming a matrix of 100 Web sites to be included in the audit. The homepage of each Web site was measured against the W3C’s benchmark for accessibility.
Of the 100 homepages evaluated during the audit, only three reached those minimum standards. Among the findings:
- 93% did not provide adequate text descriptions for graphical content, causing problems for visually impaired people
- 73% relied on JavaScript for important functionality, making it impossible for an estimated 10% of Internet users using the Internet to access key information
- 78% used foreground and background color combinations with poor contrast, making it difficult for people with mild visual conditions, such as color blindness, to read information
- 98% did not follow industry Web standards for the programming code, providing poor foundations for Web accessibility
- 97% used fixed units of measurement, preventing people from altering the size of text or comfortably resizing the page so that content can be easily scaled
- 89% failed to use the correct technique for conveying document structure through the use of headings, making page navigation awkward for many visually impaired people
- 87% caused pop-up windows to appear without warning the user, causing disorientation problems for people using screen magnification software
However, the study, Nomensa, found that a quarter of the Web sites investigated could be brought into line with the international standards quickly and for little expense.
More background on the report.
Tagged: Internet users
Prior to giving visually impaired people access to the Internet, measures should be taken to protect them from online scams and identity thefts.
Both interesting ideas. Although I don’t see why web accessibility is mutually exclusive with other types of (government) accessibility measures and user education.
As a blind computer user, I think studies like these are exaggerated. There are a few problems with a small amount of websites, but most are at least usable. There needs to be some give and take, with manufacturers of software for the blind doing what they can to work with existing code. Probably the biggest problem currently is picture word verification without an accompanying audio option. The audio option is quite feasible, in fact, it is used to do this post.
Hi J.J. - it’s great to get an opinion that isn’t purely academic.
I’m not a big fan of graphical CAPTCHAs - I often can’t read them because the shapes can be amiguous and my laptop speakers aren’t very loud. Personally, I prefer the ones that ask you the sum of two numbers — solves both issues.
So, J.J. are you also in the SEO biz or did you come across this post because you’re interested in accessibility from a real user perspective?
I believe that the change in sizes of the US (money) bills will have a higher priority to help visually impaired people. Currently, all US paper bills (from 1 dollar to 500 dollar bills) have the same size. They should be printed in different sizes or have different markings to make blinds’ life easier. Blind people can use the Internet with the assistance of their friends.