Eye Tea

Spend a few minutes on the web ‘shopping’ for sites that are accessible.   Which ones do you really rate as meeting every accessibility need?

I guess it’s only fair to look at big, high profile organisations that have a diverse user base – broadcasters, big retailers, public authorities.  Comments please: who are your top performers?  I don’t want a naughty list but if you spot some trends I’d be interested: “Not many retail websites do …”, “The public sector is great at …”.  My comment about websites for mid-sized organisations would be: “Patchy – not all websites address accessibility, and those that do often don’t offer a complete set of facilities”. 

Like many technology lawyers I’ve been offering ‘accessibility/ data protection/ consumer compliance audit’ services for years, so I’ve kept a lazy eye on accessibility features.  I think we’ve seen steady, quite slow growth in accessibility features on websites over the years.  I’d say it’s to do with the rise in businesses trying to learn about their customers and meet their needs, and not really prompted by the steadily increasing demands of the law over the same period.

Accessibility support is quite an easy thing for website buyers to specify,  and offers massive added value that appeals to perhaps 20% of the buying public who rely on accessibility features.  For anyone who’s spending money on the corporate website in 2011, it’s a simple but effective thing to put on the shopping list, a solid buy with a good business case at this time of slow recovery for many economic  sectors.

Getting hot on accessibility is also a pretty easy way for website developers/ providers to differentiate themselves from the competition and/or command a premium.  It could be a good return against the price of developing standard features that will appeal to many business customers across all sectors.   Sometimes legal compliance is just frustrating, whereas this one offers benefits for developer/ provider, corporate customer, staff and the public alike.  I’ve come across providers who are rolling out well thought-through features in their products this year. 

Killer apps for accessibility?  Yes, I think there’s plenty of scope for getting creative and taking it outside the ‘we must so we will’ category of website functions.   I’m not aware of anything out there at the moment – let me know if you are.   Maybe 2011 could be the year for accessibility.

I’m booked variously to speak and advise on accessibility this year so please get in touch if you’re looking for input/ support too – if we can get similar work whilst we’re on the boil it’ll help reduce our prices for everyone.  Meantime, have a look at the links.

Pesky People blog: http://www.peskypeople.co.uk/

WAI-ARIA web standard: http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria.php

Isn’t there a lot of talk about cloud computing coming of age this year?  I think some sectors are keen and ready for it.  I wonder if functionality in the cloud has quite come of age so that internet-based software can genuinely support business needs.  Privacy issues can be addressed.  What about:

• Interfacing and integrating with your legacy systems which are not in the cloud.
• Different cloud services ‘working with each other’ and sharing data.
• Adaptability.  Are the graphical user interfaces for online business software as sophisticated and flexible as web 2.0 can do?

I predict that lightly regulated businesses will start moving into the cloud – the business case based on cost alone is hard to resist.  There are lots of barriers for larger or more heavily regulated businesses, such as getting the internal buy-in, and having the cash available to pay for the transition.

I expect 2011 to be the year when mash ups start having an impact on online business software and services.  The ability to syndicate content from all over the web, and do what you want with it for your business, offers some real benefits for business over any above what legacy software can offer.  Could that provide a competitive edge and make a transition to the cloud hard to resist?