sector websites Sweden Regulation Guidelines and advisory documents Self-declaration by public bodies Provisions in legislation, not systematically monitored Ireland Disability act and code of practice Guidelines and advisory documents Self-declaration by public bodies Provisions in legislation, not systematically monitored Germany Equality legislation Guidelines supported by development and monitoring tools Methodology defined for monitoring compliance Provisions in legislation, not systematically monitored The table above shows that Ireland, Sweden and Germany all have policies in place that address website accessibility, including provisions in public procurement. Support measures and approaches to monitoring differ, with Germany taking a more systematic approach backed-up by the provision of web development tools. The availability of a centralised, national-level support/competence structure within the public sector as available in Germany would appear to be effective in achieving a consistent approach to accessibility, even if some smaller issues were still found to persist. All countries could consider the development of centralised support structures and processes, including skills development and the provision of guidance materials, evaluation procedures and development tools to support the development and ongoing maintenance of accessible websites. A first step for all Member States to undertake is to assess these websites current levels of conformance with WCAG 2.0. Based on this assessment, a prioritised action plan will need to consider the best national approach to improving these levels, assuming that the same variance in the level of accessibility in the 7 countries examined in this study exists in other Member States. Section 4.2 on “Indicative costs and benefits to web accessibility” provides some guidance on identifying the likely extent of the effort required to improve the accessibility of public sector websites.
Staff is the biggest cost. We have one internal resource who puts about a third of his working hours on accessibility. And the members of the web content group put some time into ensuring plain language and correct mark-up. But the costs are very low in general. (Sweden) Even though quantitative information could not be provided, a number of stages within a typical development cycle where effort on accessibility is often spent were identified by the interviewees. in this respect. These include once-off activities such as initial development/design work and testing as well as activities required on an ongoing basis, such as content generation and maintenance work. Staff training was also mentioned as an activity requiring resources, although the scope and volume of training provided varied widely across organisations. Examples in relation to the elements of the developmental lifecycle are presented in Box 7 (emphasis Box 7: Selected interview statements on accessibility activities Generally, accessibility efforts concern the entire development cycle and later on maintenance processes. Again, I am unable to say how much is spent on individual steps. (Germany) There are also some costs incurring for the generation of accessible PDF files, because this is done by an external service provider. (Germany) As mentioned earlier, content generation is another area which should be carefully budgeted, e.g. when it comes to sign language description, videos and accessibility of downloadable documents. (Germany) The early stages of the web design cycle involve the highest proportions of time spent on accessibility – ensuring that the construction of the site and the forms and templates used are accessible requires effort. (Ireland) Where specific activities such as user consultations or training are undertaken as part of the development process, they may have an identifiable cost. (Ireland) Staff, external contractors and software license for a screen reader are some of the costs… But it’s hard to separate accessibility from general costs of improving the website. (Sweden)
Greece Support of citizens re personal income tax Greece Job seeker support services provided by public employment service Greece Support of citizens re publicly paid unemployment benefits Greece Public libraries Greece Publicly financed support for higher education students N/A Ireland Support of citizens re personal income tax Ireland Job seeker support services provided by public employment service Ireland Support of citizens re publicly paid unemployment benefits Ireland Public libraries Ireland Publicly financed support for higher education students Ireland Health-related services
Lithuania Support of citizens re personal income tax Lithuania Job seeker support services provided by public employment service Lithuania Support of citizens re publicly paid unemployment benefits Lithuania Public libraries Lithuania Publicly financed support for higher education students Spain Support of citizens re personal income tax Spain Job seeker support services provided by public employment service Spain Support of citizens re publicly paid unemployment benefits Spain Public libraries Spain Publicly financed support for higher education students Sweden Support of citizens re personal income tax Sweden Job seeker support services provided by
public employment service Sweden Support of citizens re publicly paid unemployment benefits Sweden Public libraries Sweden Publicly financed support for higher education students Sweden Health-related services United Kingdom Support of citizens re personal income tax United Kingdom Job seeker support services provided by public employment service United Kingdom Support of citizens re publicly paid unemployment benefits United Kingdom Public libraries United Kingdom Publicly financed support for higher education students
guidelines? (If so, ones) Does this policy relate to procurement? Why has your organisation been involved in undertaking web accessibility measures? What are the main reasons For example: Internal policy (what kinds of policy), Pressure from external groups Quality management principles, etc is it required by legislation ? is it felt to be a public duty more generally, albeit it may not necessarily be required by law? is it due to more strategic considerations, e.g. as part of a corporate social responsibility strategy. What activities are undertaken by your organisation in relation to web accessibility? We aim to obtain information on specific activities here that are carried out by own staff such as: Development/design work Generation of content Training of staff Involvement of end users in
Conduction of specific accessibility audits, tests or monitoring procedures (either on a regular basis or as once-off activities) Other . Have you ever experienced any major problems in organising or conducting web accessibility activities For example, lack of support/awareness internal to your organisation, budget/resource restrictions, unavailability of knowledge/expertise, other issues Section 3: Specific web accessibility elements As part of this and other studies on website accessibility conducted for the EU, a picture has been emerging about the current situation overall as well as about the extent of variability across websites in terms of whether and/or how well specific accessibility themes are being given attention. There are some aspects of accessibility that seem to vary particularly widely in this regard, and sometimes are not addressed very much at all even if they are part of the WCAG guidelines. We are trying to get some better insight in why this might be the case, and would like to explore a little with you some of these specific themes. You may not be in a position to have some of the relevant information/insight into some of these issues, and, if so, if you could refer us to a colleague who may have the information, that would be very helpful Question Instructions for interviewer Navigation (here we are thinking about such issues as alternative navigation If you did address this issue: What was your experience of dealing with it?
(search functionality, website index, A-Z listings or similar) and keyboard control of navigation: Have you addressed this theme in your accessibility efforts? Was it straightforward or were any problems/ difficulties? If you did not address the issue: Why not? (e.g. had not thought about it, not included in the scope of your current accessibility targets, not a priority, don’t have the skills to address this, too much cost/effort, etc.) Additional back ground info for the interviewer: Do they see search as accessibility/they spend a large amount on search/they do not know how their search works. Is it internal as part of CMS or bought as third party functionality? Keyboard navigation is
accessibility efforts? accessibility targets, not a priority, don’t have the skills to address this, too much cost/effort, etc.) Additional information for the interviewer: Do they make PDFs themselves or get them from a system or a supplier? How do they ensure they are accessible? How is this addressed/specified in policy/law? Forms: Here we are thinking about such issues as using correct labels in forms (e.g. so that AT users can use them) and having error messages in connection to mandatory fields - (important for all users, but especially people with cognitive, reading and If you did address this issue: What was your experience of dealing with it? Was it straightforward or were there any problems/ difficulties? If you did not address the issue: Why not? (e.g. had not thought it, not included in the scope of your current
(internally or with real users) Technical construction of the website: Here we are thinking about such issues as using HTML/XHTML according to their specifications and separating information from presentation. Have you addressed this theme in your accessibility efforts? If you did address this What was your experience of dealing with it? Was it straightforward or were there any problems/ difficulties? If you did not address the issue: Why not? (e.g. had not thought about it, not included in the scope of your current accessibility targets, not a priority, don’t have the skills to address this, too much cost/effort, etc.) Additional information for the interviewer: Do they follow a HTML-standard at all and – if so - how do they ensure this is met. Multimedia content: Here If you did address this issue:
Are the outcomes of your accessibility related efforts consistent with meeting your initial objectives ? This question aims to identify what the objectives of accessibility actions have been as well as the extent to they have been met. For instance policy objectives, taking advantage of available functionalities, meeting specific request from users/clients trying to address the accessibility of the website, mainly to improve the quality of the website Have these outcomes been measured in any way? We are interested in finding out how these outcomes were measured – is it a system that was specifically set up for the accessibility project, is it
part of ongoing monitoring. We also want to know how the outcomes are measured. Section 5: Effort estimations for accessibility activities Here we would like to ask some questions that deal with the issue of how much resources are spent on web accessibility. Resources here can mean staff time and/or money. Question Instructions for interviewer What do you think are the main areas of effort in relation to web accessibility activities? The aim here is to define the main types of costs that may occur. Here we are interested in the efforts spent on web accessibility in particular rather than developing /maintaining the web presence more generally For example, areas where particular accessibility related
responsive design frameworks and the like Front end design / lay out Back-end development such as accessibility of back-end interfaces, supporting generation of accessible content and the like Is it possible to quantify the efforts spent on web accessibility in particular, e.g. in terms of staff time that has been put into addressing web accessibility or any other costs associated with making the web presence accessible to users with disabilities in particular? Here we are interested in quantifying the efforts on web accessibility in particular when compared with effort spent on developing /maintaining the web presence more generally. This could be expressed in terms of manpower effort, costs in monetary terms or
perhaps a percentage of a project cost. Clarify the time frame, are these annual amounts of staff effort/costs etc. Is there a web accessibility budget in your organisation? Try to find out what percentage this budget is of the overall web budget In addressing web accessibility issues, could you estimate (roughly) what level of effort was needed from the following people? Web manager/strategic planner Web developer Web designer Content providers Others The aim here is to try to characterise the efforts of all parties involved and the likely type of work that roles undertake. (Web managers refer to the role of policy and management of the website, rather than a technical role)