Web Sites Inch Toward Accessibility

Australian Bruce Maguire wanted to use the official Olympic Games Web site to follow the games. But Maguire, who is blind, found the site inaccessible to the visually impaired. Now he has brought a damages claim against the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games before the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

Maguire's frustrations are not unusual. Although in many ways the Internet is helpful to disabled people, it also can be a barrier, because very few Web sites are designed with accessibility in mind. For instance, blind people who use screen readers can't access information unless it is presented in an accessible format.

Efforts are under way to define standards for designing accessible Web sites. The World Wide Web Consortium has a Web Accessibility Initiative that companies can use as a guideline. The basic rule is providing HTML code that can be read by text-only browsers and screen readers or providing alternate text and descriptions.

Testing the Sites

Web accessibility is a major concern at phone companies. At the human factors laboratory of SBC Technology Resources, a subsidiary of Southwestern Bell, computer users with disabilities put phone company Web sites to the test.

Dr. Elizabeth Gibson, a senior member of the technical staff, says people with disabilities, including hearing, vision, and mobility impairments, are asked to perform a simple task on a Web site. "We want to find out if the assistive technologies that they use are compatible with our site. We want to see if people know how to find what they want on a Web page," she says. Testers also try Web pages from their homes and offices.

"We just did a study involving people at the Texas School for the Blind," Gibson says. "We learned where people had trouble performing certain tasks. For example, some menu labels and titles were not intuitive. Sometimes the problem can be as simple as the way we're constructing a data-entry field."

Teaching Web Authors

Siemens has been adding accessibility features to both its external Web sites and its company intranet for three years. Stephen Berger, manager of standards and regulations in Siemens' communication mobile group, says the greatest challenge is teaching accessibility coding to the company's many Web page authors, who are scattered in 120 countries. Siemens has a central office that reviews pages for compliance to accessibility guidelines.

"We're learning as we go," Berger says. "Technology is moving so rapidly on the Web that keeping Web pages accessible will always be an ongoing challenge."