The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was updated in 2004 to specifically include websites that provide products and/or services.
It is a breach of the DDA for any website matching this description to not provide adequate facilities for disabled users and to ensure they are not prevented from accessing the website and the information contained within.
If you have a commercial website in the United Kingdom, you need to ensure that your website is accessible to disabled users.
Source realised the importance of providing a rich and equal experience for disabled users long before the Act was updated and consequently all of our website developments are programmed with accessibility in mind. Websites are tested in a multitude of specialist software (such as text-only browsers and screen-reading software) to ensure that the website is accessible.
We use the Worldwide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as our bible when creating an accessible website. These guidelines offer three levels of conformance:
By using modern website construction techniques we strive to achieve Double-A conformance with the guidelines. In some cases we can achieve Triple-A conformance, the highest standard achievable.
The usability of a website is closely related to its accessibility. In almost all cases, the more accessible a website is the easier it will be for people to use, whether they are disabled or not.
Our web development team are strong believers in making websites as easy to use as possible. After all, if your customers and prospects are struggling to find what they are looking for (whether it's simply finding contact details, or placing an order in your online shop) they may give up in frustration, losing you potential business.
We perform a series of usability tests on websites that we produce. These consist of asking various people to carry out a series of tasks specific to the website in question. We do these tests with people who are computer literate and people who aren't, to ensure that all bases are covered.