RE: examples of sites with good accessibility

Hi Phill,
I wasn't expecting a consensus on example of good sites on this list.  I 
was just hoping for any examples of retail sites that are accessible. Like 
I said in my e-mail, I know it's a subjective question and I understand 
that people will disagree.  I just thought it would be a better approach 
than randomly hitting sites and seeing if they're accessible.  To that 
end, I also realize that companies make compromises and there is no 
"perfect" site.

Thanks for the input,
Anna Yevsiyevich
Web Usability Analyst





Phill Jenkins <pjenkins@us.ibm.com> 
Sent by: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org
10/19/2006 03:43 PM

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Subject
RE: examples of sites with good accessibility







Anna, 
be careful in how much faith you are putting in this list.  It's just 
that, people spending their "volunteer" time in responding.  It has taken 
years for the WCAG 2.0 working group to reach consensus to produce working 
drafts.  Why do you think this list could reach consensus on example good 
sites?   

When participating in some web competitions, where sites were submitted 
for  "judging" (see note 1 Knowbility) of their accessibility compliance, 
even 5 experienced judges with years of experience in accessibility, many 
of them having been part of the original WCAG 1.0 working group (see note 
2),  had a hard time in reaching consensus on the particular sites being 
judged.  The "judges" have reduced that gap by using a consistent 
methodology and consistent tools.  And now even have a better process in 
understanding each judges' position on an issue and why they were 
different that the other judges' position.  All these have reduced the 
differences of opinion, but there still remained some difference of 
opinion. 

This list has had none of this "maturing" process, its just an interest 
list. 

There is no working group in WAI tasked with this requirement, BUT, there 
is an attempt to collect best practices and document them in the 
techniques for WCAG (see note 3).  So, if you built a commercial site out 
of these "best practices" example - then you would have a "good example 
site".   
  
good luck,
Phill Jenkins
IBM Worldwide Accessibility Center
http://www.ibm.com/able 

Note 1 Knowbility: 
http://www.knowbility.org/newsletter/?content=simsFall2006 
Note 2 Original WCAG working Group: 
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/appendixC.html 
Note 3 WCAG 2.0 Techniques: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-GENERAL/

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