All-Flash site fails on accessibility

sites."

But others, including the Royal National Institute of the Blind, are
less impressed. Delivering the site in Adobe Flash isn't the issue; the
problem lies in the way it has been used. And it comes as the British
Standards Institution and Disability Rights Commission (DRC) released
new accessibility guidelines for web developers (see box).

RNIB digital policy development officer Julie Howell said: "River Island
hasn't made itself aware of its duty under the Disability Discrimination
Act (DDA) and hasn't investigated Adobe's guidelines on how to use Flash
so screen readers can use it."

"I imagine Bumblebee Design created a site the client asked for and
would argue that they're not aware of the Act, but that's not good
enough. The DDA has been around for a couple of years and if not
Bumblebee then River Island should have been fully aware of it."

Brand showcase

River Island declined to comment, but Bumblebee insisted the
accessibility issues were discussed early. The brief was for a
cutting-edge e-commerce site and both parties felt an all-Flash site
would best showcase the brand, says O'Neil.

He explains: "We did discuss accessibility with River Island and decided
the best way to do this would be to launch a separate, HTML-accessible
site."

This is still being tested, for launch in "the not-too-distant
future".

It will be readable via screen readers and appear as a link on
Riverisland.com's home page. The HTML version wasn't launched
simultaneously with the Flash site because River Island wanted to "get a
site out there", explains O'Neil.

Peter Ballard, managing partner at usability company Foolproof, says the
all-Flash site excludes most disabled users and makes it invisible to
search engines, which he describes as nonsensical. "Everyday users in an
e-commerce environment look for familiar structures on sites, whereas
Flash navigational systems tend to rely on roll-overs and overlays," he
adds.

Simon Norris, managing director of web design company Nomensa,
criticises the site's inconsistent navigation, saying that, by hijacking
the browser, users cannot forward links or bookmark pages: "Taking away
features like browsers and bookmarks irritates people."

Bumblebee's O'Neil argues that the most annoying thing for users is
having to constantly click the 'back' button to return to the start of a
process, so 'hijacking the browser' is a positive move to improve
navigation.

Huge weight

Howell feels there is a huge weight on the shoulders of site developers
to think about accessibility code. Ideally, the software tools that
create Flash would do this automatically.

The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) provide advice for
developers using Flash and Adobe is involved in producing them.

Under the DDA, Adobe does not have a legal duty in the UK to make Flash
accessible, says Howell, but she thinks it should make sure agencies can
do so.

David Stevenson, senior sales engineer at Adobe, agrees: "Adobe has a
responsibility to ensure documents - Flash or PDF - created using its
technology are capable of being accessible. Adobe has done that and is
committed to accessibility."

Adobe offers accessibility tips at http://access.adobe.com and it was on
the PAS 78 review panel. "Frankly, we don't do enough, but we certainly
build accessibility as a core requirement into our content producing
tools," adds Stevenson.

However, currently, no web-authoring tools adhere to ATAG and Adobe was
unable to say when this would change.

Letters, p18

THE LATEST ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES

- The British Standards Institution, with the support of the Disability
Rights Commission (DRC), has released new guidance for developers to
ensure sites are easy for disabled people to use.

- The publication is in the form of a Publicly Available Specification
(PAS) 78: Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible
Websites.

- PAS 78 outlines general principles, which include getting disabled
users involved in the design of sites and inviting them to test
them.

It also offers details on developing a web site accessibility policy and
upholding the guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium Web
Accessibility Initiative.

- The RNIB helped write PAS 78 as a member of a panel of eight industry
advisers. It was reviewed by a 200-strong panel, including site
developers and commissioners from a range of industries, as well as
disabled users.