Business Case for Web Accessibility : some ideas

My impression while reading this document is that it is a good work and that 
it is a necessary work.

To prepare the video about senior web accessibility, I made a small visit to 
the most popular senior websites in Belgium : newspapers, stores, travel 
agencies, ...

It was terrible : for most of them, the interface becomes unusable while 
increasing the default size font. A lot of them use frames ! And a lot of 
buttons are still presented as images.  

The difficulty is that people commanding websites are not technicians.
I thinks such a text could convince such people of the necessity to have 
accessible websites. 

Today, all important institution has a content management system has a 
website. And the difficulty is that content has also to be accessible. Even 
control tool are not sufficient to ensure accessibility : if redactors 
provide the word "image" as alternative text for all images, accessibility is 
not ensured.

Web accessibility has to become a permanent care for everybody : 
webdeveloppers, managers, secretaries, ...

Such a text is absolutely necessary (in Belgium at least).

Now about the seniors question, I have 2 suggestions :
1) I think it would be interresting to explain the seniors represent an 
important population part and that they will even represent more in the 
future. 
And future seniors won't be web newbies and will therefore be interressed in 
web services, avoiding them to go for shopping, ...
This argument succeeded to convince myself to involve in an senior web 
accessibility project !

2) In the social part, I think examples describing difficulties for elderly 
are good but I would find it important to add a point about avoiding dynamic 
rolling menus that are often seen as a "technological must" by developpers.  


I will have contact with some elderly in few weeks to prepare the video.  If 
you want me to have some particular points in mind, do not hesitate to 
contact me.


I will try to join the teleconf this afternoon ...


Best regards,


Isabelle

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Isabelle Motte
Chercheur IHM accessibilité web
Informatique - IHM
Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix
Rue de Bruxelles,61
5000 Namur
Belgique
00.32.81.725279
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Received on Wednesday, 17 September 2008 11:12:38 UTC