Accessibility
A website is accessible if it can be used by disabled people using assistive technologies such as screen readers, braille keyboards, sip/puff switches and many more devices that help people with disabilities to access the World Wide Web. At present most websites are not fully accessible because, up to now, accessibility has often not been a priority in the design of websites. However this situation is changing as more and more governments around the world implement legislation to make it compulsory for websites to be accessible.
Accessibility Guidelines
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the organisation that runs the Internet. It is this organisation that drives web accessibility by periodically publishing updated Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). To date W3C have published 2 sets of guidelines. These are WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1. Each set of guidelines has 3 compliance levels which are A, AA and AAA.
World Guidelines
Most governments around the world adopt the W3C guidelines when implementing accessibility legislation in their countries. For instance the UK now requires government websites to adhere to WCAG 2.1 AA.
UK EU Accessibility
The UK and the EU now require all central and local government websites to comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.1 AA. Organisations, companies, clubs and individuals are now well advised to ensure that their websites comply with these guidelines. Accessibility is increasingly important in web design and it can't be long before all websites in the UK have to be accessible by law.
Parish Councils
Parish Councils, along with other UK government websites, are now subject to the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. This is in addition to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.1 AA. Troutfly Internet can design and maintain websites for parish councils that adhere to these guidelines. Another service we provide to councils that already have accessible websites is to make PDFs accessible before they are uploaded, so breaking the site.
USA Accessibility
In America the American Disability Act (ADA) requires all federal and state websites to be accessible. However in America discrimination lawsuits are now being initiated against non-government companies for having inaccessible websites.
Screen Readers
A screen reader translates a web page into speech. Screen readers help blind and partially sighted people access the web. Screen readers rely on hidden code on the page to help users navigate around the page. Web pages that omit this code are not fully accessible.
Assistive Technologies
There are many different kinds of assistive technologies that help people with disabilities access the web. In addition to screen readers for the blind, sip 'n' puff (SNP) switches are used by people who cannot use a keyboard. Stephen Hawking famously manipulated an infra red switch on his glasess by twitching his cheek.