PAS78 : What's all the fuss about?

So PAS78 has been released now and the dust is starting to settle somewhat but my initial impressions are of some disappointment.

Although finally we have some solid statistics and analysis to convince our clients that developing a website with the broadest range of users in mind is welcoming, to say the very least, there is nothing new in the DRC's documentation - it's been the accepted norm that the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are the guidelines that we should all be following for some time now.

So why all the fuss? Well that's something I still can't determine... I mean I genuinely hope that the government has decided to take more of a stance and enforce the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, with regards to digital media formats, and was hoping that the PAS78 documentation might actually be an enforcement more than a general overview but I'm afraid that's exactly what it is.

So the conclusions are the same as before: consider what the site should do and for whom; consider who you are going to get to create it; consider how to enforce the guidelines; and consider how this can be tested.

So much hype; so much expectation; so little new information.

There are some valid points that I have tried to advocate on all projects I've worked on however:

Never rely solely on automated WCAG checking tools such as WatchFire and the like; try to actively envolve disabled people in your testing

Consider how disabled people might access your website - there is no substitute for working directly with people with a range of disabilities

Remember that most disabled people don't use assistive technology but rely on standard browser features such as text resizing

Compliance isn't all about design or the code you use - consider the way you present content and the wording you use

Consider whether the same functionality provided by client-side technologies such as javascript and flash can be achieved on the server before the data is presented to the user.

I'll be delving deeper into the guielines on a regular basis and providing my views and opinions on solutions to some of the issues raised so watch this space!

Check out the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines