Web accessibility - theory and practice
Chair: Mel Poluck
Panellists:
Bob Crichton, Managing Director, HOP Associates
Brian Kelly, UK Web Focus, UKOLN, University of Bath

Sponsored by HOP Associates

There will be a live demonstration of WebSpringer - a website creation tool that builds in accessibility from the outset by Bob Crichton.

Brian Kelly will cover recently published research he co-authored on the usefulness of web accessibility guidelines. Are guidelines helping people create accessible web sites or are they too hard to decipher?

Five Key Points:

- The high profile given to the Web Accessibility Initative (WAI) guidelines, can lead to a danger that compliance with the guidelines is an end in itself

- The key focus for accessibility should be the user - there's a need to imbed a user-centred design approach to website development

- Web sites which users with disabilities find easy-to-use are not necessarily those which comply with WAI accessibility guidelines

- How should we respond to the dichotomy between the user benefits which may be provided by technologies such as podcasting and Skype and criticisms of potential accessibility barriers?

- Web 2.0 technologies such as podcasting, blogs, wikis and Skype have a potentially valuable role to for public sector services. Although some will be inaccessible, their use should not be ignored if they fail to comply with guidelines. Let our mantra be "No Web 2.0 without responsibility"