26 May 2005
Accessibility standards for websites in the UK have had the bar considerably raised by Stockport metropolitan borough council following the relaunch of its new and improved site.
Revamped in response to the recent damning Disability Rights Commission report, Stockport's new website is one of the first to meet the strict AAA standard of the World Wide Web Consortium.
This benchmark signifies the very highest level of accessibility compliance a web site can reach, according to PublicTechnology.net.
The improvements took just ten weeks to be completed but have improved accessibility beyond expectations and indeed have surpassed the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act.
Stockport's new site offers speech-enabled browsing for the visually impaired, access keys to enable easy browsing, skip navigation and a text-only version of the site with high-contrast text and background.
Andrew Kirkham, operational head of the council's e-services said: "It has provided our community with a unique level of accessibility for all users."
Mr Kirkham was refusing to rest on his laurels however and admitted: "Our site is certainly not perfect and further development and improvement is underway - but we have made a massive leap forwards. It has taken us from not even a poor single A rating straight to triple A."
Proposals are now thought to be in place for further testing of the Stockport MBC site with disability user groups, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, and the Society of Information Technology Management.© DeHavilland Information Services plc
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