97% of websites fail accessibility minimums, says Nomensa
Howard Lake | 22 December 2006 | News
UK Web accessibility agency Nomensa reports that only 3% of websites it has tested in a global study for the United Nations reached minimum accessibility standards.
The survey used both manual and automated testing methods to determine how leading websites measured up against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Nomensa looked at the leading website in five different sectors in 20 countries, including its Head of State and leading airline, bank, newspaper and retailer. The study involved 100 websites
The three websites that did achieve the minimum standards were the German Chancellor’s website, the Spanish Government website, and the British Prime Minister’s website.
Advertisement
How did so many websites go wrong? Nomensa has listed the key shortfalls identified in the report:
* 93% did not provide adequate text descriptions for graphical content, causing problems for visually impaired people;
* 73% relied on JavaScript for important functionality, making it impossible for an estimated 10% of Internet users using the Internet to access key information;
* 78% used foreground and background colour combinations with poor contrast, making it difficult for people with mild visual conditions, such as colour blindness, to read information;
* 98% did not follow industry web standards for the programming code, providing poor foundations for web accessibility;
* 97% used fixed units of measurement, preventing people from altering the size of text or comfortably resizing the page so that content can be easily scaled;
* 89% failed to use the correct technique for conveying document structure through the use of headings, making page navigation awkward for many visually impaired people;
* 87% caused pop-up windows to appear without warning the user, causing disorientation problems for people using screen magnification software.
Ninety seven per cent of sites tested failed to meet Priority 1 level as detailed in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This states: “A website content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use website documents.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.