Slides used by Brian Kelly in debate on "Web accessibility is difficult to implement" at the IWMW 2003 event held at the University of Kent on 11-13 June 2003. See http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2003/debate/#debate-1

1. 1
Is Web Accessibility Difficult?
Creating An Institutional
Web Policy Is Easy
The Case For The Motion
Brian Kelly
UK Web Focus
UKOLN
B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk

2. 2
Nobody Said It Would Be Easy
"Nobody said it would be easy" – Judy Brewer,
head of W3C WAI
Some thoughts:
• There is a danger that seeking to achieve
the best will drive out the good
• If 100% accessibility is theoretically
impossible and 90% accessibility is too
expensive, why not go for 80%
accessibility?
• We've done this before in many areas (e.g.
wheelchair accessibility for listed Victorian
buildings)

3. 3
Let's Build A Policy (in 3 mins)
Foo University Web Accessibility Policy:
The University has a commitment to accessibility and well-
established policies, procedures and support (see Disability
Office for details).
This commitment also applies to University Web sites.
The University Web site must comply with W3C AA
guidelines.
The Web Accessibility Officer is responsible for providing
support, monitoring compliance, …
Web sites which do not comply are liable to be removed or
access denied through blocking by the University firewall
A simple, clear policy which is linked to related policies,
has a support infrastructure and the policy has teeth
But …

4. 4
Another Web Policy
Bar University Web Accessibility Policy:
The University has a commitment to accessibility …
In addition the University seeks to ensure that its publications
are authoritative understandable, usable, accurate & up-to-
date.
This commitment also applies to University Web sites.
University Web sites (*.bar.ac.uk) must seek to comply with
W3C A guidelines, with university visual identity guidelines
and with usability guidelines.
Departmental Web contacts are responsible for producing
appropriate QA guidelines and for establishing monitoring
procedures. Annual reports on compliance must be
submitted as part of department's annual reports.

5. 5
A Third Web Policy
FUBAR Department's Web Accessibility Policy:
The FUBAR Dept has a commitment to Web accessibility and
open standards. The Dept.'s browser policy if Netsoft v6
The Dept will ensure that its templates, training, etc. adhere to
best W3C practices.
Significant new Web services will go through systematic
usability testing, which will include usability for people with
disabilities.
We will ensure that teaching resources to be used by
registered disabled students will be tested. If they are not
accessible we will seek to ensure that we can provide an
equivalent real-world learning experience.
We will take a risk and make our DHTML learning resources
freely-available. If external disabled users complain, we will
move them to our Intranet.

6. 6
Conclusions
To conclude:
• Creating the basics of a Web accessibility
policy shouldn't be difficult
• Remember we have a culture of sharing,
so we can bounce ideas around
• We don't need to solve all problems!

7. 7
Discussion
We invite comments from the floor

8. 8
A New Motion
The speakers wish to propose a composite
motion:
Although implementing Web accessibility in large
institutions may be challenging the house
believes that institutions should seek to address
these challenges
Although implementing Web accessibility in large
institutions may be challenging the house
believes that institutions should seek to address
these challenges