RE: good response:Fw: Time and Cost Modeling of making web pages accessible.

I would also like to add to the excellent answer provided below.
As someone who has instigated accessibility into a Web design company that previously did not take it into account I feel that there is one thing that helps with the 'cost' question.

Developers who build good accessible attributes into a Web page from the initial consultantion with the client (i.e. from spec to design to development to launch) will slowly see the 'cost' attributed to development lower with time. If accessible design and development becomes second nature within an organisation, then the cost will become smaller and smaller. It is probably true that the cost is 'negative' but not if the client is informed of the practice of creating accessible sites as standard, even to the minimum of Priority One Checklists.

By being open with the client about these issues, not only are people spreading the good word and work of accessible Web design, before long all clients will *want* to have a site that is accessible to a certain standard. Then we can forget about the additional cost of development and design and the only negative cost will be to those who do not design to WCAG standards, in the way of decreased market share, perceived benefits of purchasing from such an organisation, etc.

As someone who works in the commercial side of accessibility (which makes me sound bad, but please be assured this is not so), this is how I am seeing it evolve here in the UK with the clients I am involved with.

Although there is a long way to go before accessibility becomes the norm in Web design, I can alredy see that the roots of it have taken here at JKD and as a company we are working hard to express the need for accessible Web design and development to all our clients and those who we are attempting to attract as clients. More and more I see people who already know about accessibility and only require some additional facts and information to dispel certain myths (such as accessible design is text-only. Yes, some people still believe this is how to make a site accessible!)

So, really it is a case of stopping asking if a client wants an accessible site and just getting on and building it.  Isn't it? As Davis's post from Mr Jacobs points out, all additional costs can be shown to be worth paying for. Express this to the client involved in your project (business cases, PR opportunities, increased market share, etc) and watch while they agree to perhaps a couple of extra days of development time.

Kind regards

Simon



-----Original Message-----
From: David Poehlman [mailto:poehlman1@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 13:10
To: wai-ig list
Subject: good response:Fw: Time and Cost Modeling of making web pages
accessible.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Jacobs, Steve I" <sj131264@exchange.DAYTONOH.NCR.com>
To: <asuncion@alcor.concordia.ca>
Cc: <uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 7:49 AM
Subject: Time and Cost Modeling of making web pages accessible.


Jennison,

One of the benefits of adding Alt-Text to an image is that it enhances
the
ability to automatically transcode HTML into WML.  This is a business
benefit to those wishing to make their HTML content accessible to
wireless
Internet appliances.  We have demonstrated this in practice.

Simplifying the content of a web page has holds the potential to cut
language translation costs in-half because, on average, you reduce the
number of words by a half.  We have demonstrated this in practice.

Simplified English is easier to read by those using English as a Second
Language. This has been demonstrated in practice.

There is more to the "value equation" of changing Silver [HTML] to Gold
[Accessible HTML] than simply the cost of conversion.  Gold is worth
more
than Silver.  To make good business sense your model will need to factor
in
this value... whatever the business community deems it to be.  I can
certainly provide you with my opinion. :-)  I predict that that the true
"cost" is negative... to a great extent.

Good luck on your efforts.

Sincerely,

Steve

Steve Jacobs
Accessibility Program Manager
and President, IDEAL at NCR
NCR Corporation
2809 Bohlen Drive
Hilliard, Ohio 43026

Phone: (614) 777-0660
Fax: (937) 445-1955
TTY: (800) 855-2880
STS: (877) 750-9097
E-mail: steve.jacobs@ncr.com
URL: http://www.ncr.com


-----Original Message-----
From: David Poehlman [mailto:poehlman1@comcast.net]
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 11:25 AM
To: uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu
Subject: Re: web page accessibility time and costing models?


the wai might have info on this.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jennison Asuncion" <asuncion@alcor.concordia.ca>
To: <easi@maelstrom.stjohns.edu>
Cc: <uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 11:05 AM
Subject: web page accessibility time and costing models?


Hello.

I am wondering if anyone here either has or knows where I can find
models
that provide figures (based on real or assumed data) around the time and
cost associated with making a web page accessible?

For example, given a web site with 200 images, how long, on average,
does
it take to create the alt tag and test it? Additionally, how much
additional cost does this add on to the development of  a site. Another
example would be: how much time does it take to run a checker/repair
tool
on a typical web page?

Any help in hthis area would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jennison



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Received on Friday, 26 April 2002 08:25:27 UTC