A Survey of Accessibility Errors on Homepages of Official Government Websites

1. A Survey of Accessibility Errors on Homepages of Official Government Websites Peter Major (Member of the Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability – DCAD) 4th Internet Governance Forum 15-18 November, Sharm El Sheik

2. Outline • Objectives of the survey • Resources • Methodology used • Data sampling and statistics • Conclusion

3. Objectives • Check accessibility compliance of official government websites • Restrict survey to websites of signatory countries of UN Convention • Check home pages only and with respect to WCAG 1.0 • Compile statistics • Give recommendations based on findings

4. Resources Convention, guidelines, recommendations • UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities • Web Access Initiative Guidelines (WAI) • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 • Section 508Evaluation tools • WAVE , Cynthiasays Report • United Nations Global Audit of Web Accessibility

5. Methodology • Identify all signatory countries of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (as of 26/09/2009) • Find the official websites of signatory countries • Check for accessibility errors of home pages, use semi automatic tools: WAVE Cynthiasays • Compile statistics for sites of signatory countries

6. Data Sampling • UN Convention of the rights of persons with disabilities:144 signatory/ratifying countries (end of September 2009) 136 official government websites • Accessibility snapshots of home pages (end of September 2009) • 40 European, 38 African, 32 Asia-Pacific and 26 American sites

7. Statistics – World

8. Accessibility errors on homepages of 136 signatory countries

9. Statistics – Europe

10. Accessibility errors on homepages of 40 European signatory countries

11. Statistics – Africa

12. Accessibility errors on homepages of 40 African signatory countries

13. Statistics – Asia-Pacific

14. Accessibility errors on homepages of 32 Asia-Pacific signatory countries

15. Statistics – American Countries

16. Accessibility errors on homepages of 26 American signatory countries

17. Accessibility errors on home pages of signatory/ratifying countries ofthe UN Convention

18. Conclusion • Situation slightly improved since the end of 2006 (publication of United Nations Global Audit of Web Accessibility by Nomensa) • 12% of all homepages are error free 23 % with few errors (between 1 and 5) • Situation is uneven: best in Europe (30% error free, 25% few errors) • Typical errors: missing alt text for an image form label missing or empty empty link, linked image with no alt text

19. Conclusion (cont’d) • Retrofit “legacy” websites and/or • Redesign and apply accessibility rules • Raising awareness if there is a will – there is a way • Important step towards e-government • Capacity building/assistance

20. Contact: Peter Major Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability peter.major@ties.itu.int +4122 733 72 68 or DCADsecretariat@itu.int