DPC BS 8878 Web Accessibility - Code of Practice
British Standards Institute has released a new draft for public comment (DPC) on the BS 8878 Web Accessibility - Code of Practice.
The BS 8878 Web Accessibility - Code of Practice DPC can be accessed through the draft review system (log in required), and may also be downloaded as an RTF file once authenticated. The new draft standard is based on the current PAS 78:2006 Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites and explains how to create organisational policies and production processes to identify and remove barriers that unlawfully exclude disabled and elderly people from "web products". In this context, "accessibility" only relates to people with disabilities in the UK (e.g. the Equality Act 2010), and not wider concerns about universal access (e.g. access in poor light, using a small display, noisy environments, using a slow internet connection, etc).
Web products are any website, web-service, or web/workplace application which is delivered to users using internet protocol (IP), on any IP-enabled device, and more specifically:
A web product in this British Standard:
is defined as any website, web-service, or web/workplace application which is delivered to users over the Internet (specifically via Internet Protocol), through a web browser;
includes: Rich Internet Applications, "Software as a Service"/Cloud computing services provided through a browser; internet-enabled "widgets" that can be run inside and outside the browser, using desktop runtimes such as Java or Adobe Air;
can be viewed on different internet-enabled platforms, including: computers, mobile phones and other internet-enabled devices such as eBooks, tablets, set-top-boxes and televisions.
The guidance for procurement of authoring tools, software, components or web-services (Appendix L) notes that due-diligence discussions on the proposed design should be held with potential suppliers, including detailed technical checks on matters such as security, accessibility, software versions supported and future plans.
If you develop web products, read this draft code of practice now, understand the implications on your development practices and provide feedback before it is finalised.
Comments can be submitted until 30th June 2010. The final BS 8878 is due to be published in November 2010.
Update 7th December 2010: BS 8878 Web Accessibility has now been published.
Posted on: 01 June 2010 at 08:28 hrs
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