The W3C/WAI guidelines provide a means for public information
providers and web site builders to conform to a set of informal
rules on designing and structuring web sites.
Few sites presently comply with the guidelines, which makes
internet use difficult for the visually impaired who rely on
browsers which speak the content of web pages or produce them in
Braille. Images and tables are among the elements which can present
problems for these browsers if the code of the web pages does not
follow the steps for site content, structure and coding which are
recommended by the guidelines.
According to the Commission, there are 37 million people with
disabilities in the EU, while the number of older Europeans is
steadily increasing.
In the UK, the Disability Discrimination Act contains rules on
making sites reasonably accessible by the disabled and all UK sites
should comply, though few actually meet the recommended levels. To
date, the provisions, which came into force in 1999, have not been
enforced.
The Commission observed that the W3C/WAI guidelines represent
best practice in design-for-all (universal design) for the
internet, and aim to be compatible with both earlier and new
technologies. Recognised as, in effect, a global standard for the
design of accessible web sites, the Commission said they are likely
to have an impact on improved web access throughout the public
sector, particularly in health, government, and learning.
The Member States and the European institutions are taking on
board the guidelines for all public web sites by the end of
2001.
