Accessibility of Norwegian Public Web Sites

Slide 1: Accessibility of Norwegian Public Web Sites - Svein Ølnes, Vestlandsforsking

Slide 2: Content  Main questions answered  Background  Web accessibility and public web sites  Results 2004 - 2006  Accessibility and national objectives www.vestforsk.no

Slide 3: Main questions answered  The state of accessibility of public web sites in Norway  Are the eNorge 2009 goals realistic? www.vestforsk.no

Slide 4: Background  Quality evaluations of public web sites since 2001  Statskonsult responsible for the first evaluations, since then an important part of Norge.no’s work  Annual evaluations (except one evaluation for 2002 and 2003)  Accessibility an important part of all the different evaluation schemes  Web accessibility one of the few areas with explicit goals in the eNorge 2009 plan  W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) as the central premise provider in this area www.vestforsk.no

Slide 5: Web accessibility and public web sites  Public web portals play an ever increasing important part of information and dialogue with the inhabitants  Access for all a democracy issue  “Access for all” stated as important part of eNorge 2009 strategy  “An Information society for all” the name of St.mld. 17/2006  “An Information society for all” an important part of EU ICT policy www.vestforsk.no

Slide 6: Web accessibility and legislation  EU and Norway: Carrot  guidelines, benchmarking, evaluations  USA: Stick  “section 508” – Rehabilitation Amendments Act  ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act  Official Norwegian Report Equality and Accessibility (2005)  human rights rather than welfare/charity perspective  a separate act against discrimination  universal design secured through legislation  web accessibility might be established by law www.vestforsk.no

Slide 7: Web accessibility indicators 2004 - 2006 Indicator Priority Score (%) 1. Provide alt. text for all non-textual elements 1 53,1 1. Do not rely solely on colours for navigation 1 85,1 1. Web pages should be readable also without 1 90,1 accompanying style sheets (css) 1. Web pages should be free of flickering images 1 99,6 1. Data tables should be marked with row and 1 28,9 column headers Score is computed as percentage of max. obtainable points www.vestforsk.no

Slide 8: Web accessibility indicators 2004 - 2006 Indicator Priority Score (%) 1. Compensation for use of frames 1 75,9 1. Preserve functionality also if using special 1 77,2 technologies (javascript, java, plug-ins etc.) 1. Good contrast between foreground and 2/3 87,0 background 1. Direct links to contenct etc. - 15,2 1. Service provider clearly marked (especially with 2 90,7 the use of frames) Score is computed as percentage of max. obtainable points www.vestforsk.no

Slide 9: Results 2004 – 2006 (%) Government Year Total Municipalities agencies 2004 62,4 58,4 69,4 2005 64,5 60,6 71,8 2006 69,0 67,3 72,3 Score is computed as total obtained points in percentage of max. obtainable points www.vestforsk.no

Slide 10: Results 2004 - 2006 Number of Number of inst. Year Percentage inst. fulfilling all access. criter. 2004 674 2 0,3 2005 699 1 0,1 2006 690 6 1,0  eNorge 2009 goal: 80 % by 2007 www.vestforsk.no

Slide 11: Conclusion  Far from reaching accessibility goals  2006: 1,0 % as opposed to the 80 % goal stated in eNorge 2009  No way the goal can be reached in 2007  Public web sites still has a long way to go regarding accessibility  Small improvements from year to year  Speak softly and carry a big stick?  Speak softly: Yes (quality evaluations, eNorge goal)  Carry a big stick: No  Time’s up for establishing accessibility requirements by law?  Today’s methods do not seem to be enough www.vestforsk.no

Slide 12: End of presentation Thanks! Contact information Svein Ølnes – sol@vestforsk.no www.vestforsk.no