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Best Practice

This section highlights some elements of best practice in web site accessibility. It is not a definitive list, but rather a starting point.

Designing web projects with accessibility in mind

Beginning the process

  1. Development of new or redevelopment of existing web sites should not be considered in isolation from organisational communication strategies and organisational business goals. Communication and Web strategies should take into account accessibility and usability long before any RFP is issued.
  2. Before beginning the design/redesign process some preliminary work should scope the accessibility issues. Factors such as the current accessibility status of sites – have they been tested? What are the organisation’s policies on accessibility and accessible information? Is there senior level commitment?
  3. Organizations need to commit to accessibility to the extent that it becomes a factor in every major decision related to the organization's web site www.webaim.org
  4. Plan accessibility into projects from the outset.
  5. Ensure responsibility for accessibility is allocated and there is some understanding of at least the basics. Assistance from accessibility experts may be of value at an early stage.
  6. Clearly define the standard of accessibility you require, and the rationale for it. Vague statements about meeting e-government guidelines and WAI levels standards without specifying which of these are to be met is likely to result in unsatisfactory accessibility
  7. Consideration should be given to the accessibility statement/s the organisation will publicise on the web site, with clearly explained rationale for any standards which are not met.
  8. Consider how accessibility will be monitored and maintained throughout the life of the site, including feedback mechanisms.

Suggested RFP Questions

  • How can the vendor demonstrate they understand accessibility and why it is important?
  • What sites has the provider built incorporating accessibility standards/features and to what specific standards?
  • What have been the accessibility brief for other sites and how were they achieved and to what standard?
  • How was accessibility tested/ evaluated?
  • How was it tested by disabled people?
  • Was there a report?
  • Can they provide accessibility references?

Contract for service – elements for accessibility

  • How is accessibility incorporated into the brief and to what specific standard?
  • How is accessibility planned into the project?
  • What are the milestones?
  • Is it planned in from the start, e.g. with an accessibility statement reflecting an organisational understanding of what needs to be achieved and to what level?
  • How will you know it complies with the standard it should reach?
  • What budget has been built in for testing for accessibility in this contract? At what stage is testing to be carried out?
  • Are accessibility experts involved and how?
  • How will it be tested? – By what methodologies? Are disabled people involved and how?
  • How is accessibility included in accountability for the contract?
  • If remedial work is required because the brief is not met in relation to accessibility who pays?

Web Server Compression

It is recommended that high-use sites implement a Web Server compression module. These are freely available for both Apache (Unix/Linux/Windows) and IIS (Windows), and have a significant impact on cost and bandwidth reduction, as well as increasing download speeds for end-users.

Most browsers understand compressed (sometimes called "zipped") content. Fortunately, the server will not send compressed content to those browsers that cannot accept it. You should note however that compressing the content does have a slight overhead on the server, as it needs to compress it before sending it to you.

Note that only textual (e.g. HTML and CSS) content should be compressed, as image files (e.g. GIF and JPEG) are already compressed and are not likely to result in any space savings if you try to compress them again.

To test whether your site has such a module enabled, go to http://leknor.com/code/gziped.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.govt.nz

Examples of such modules can be found at:

http://www.pipeboost.com/ for IIS (Microsoft's web server)

Both these modules use the underlying compression library zlib.