Inaccessible sites. Who’s to blame?
I was recently asked by a client to take a look at a web service that was offering an easy way for him to set up his web site and market it at the same time. Normally this sort of request gets the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end because you just know what they’re going to end up with. On this occasion however, the place he was directing me to was for a highly reputable company in the UK, British Telecom.
The offer in question is for a free webspace for businesses with all sorts of bells and whistles attached. A very tempting offer for start-ups and SMEs. Here’s the sales blurb:
BT Tradespace is for businesses looking for customers:
Small businesses know the power of having personal relationships with customers. That personal touch leads to recommendations, referrals and word of mouth marketing for you: it’s good for business. Doing business online can be just as warm and personal. But in reality internet marketing often boils down to technical jargon, flashy graphics and an out-of-date promotional website.
By becoming a member of the BT Tradespace community, small businesses and individual sellers can reach their prospective customers using a range of powerful and easy-to-use tools:
* Blogs and podcasts to tell potential customers about your business, expertise and interests
* Photo sharing allows you to easily showcase your products and services
* This is just the start. More great features will be available soon…Members can also use their Tradespace as a place to interact with their customers and build trust through comments, reviews and ratings. Members can also recommend other businesses that they work with or know and like.
Very tempting. So I start to look at the whole thing in more detail. There’s a demo site to show you just what can be achieved.
Well apart form the fact that it looks like a badly designed Facebook page, it certainly seems to do what they offer. So I delved deeper. Is it accessible? Is it Doohdahs! 111 HTML errors on the promo site (Woodward Alden) front page alone and a Cynthia check reports a stream of errors for missing alts, onclicks and so on.
Now I’ve emailed BT to ask them their stance on accessibility and the Disability Discrimination Act. Those of you who know me well wouldn’t expect that I would do anything else, and I await a reply with eager glee but it got me thinking. Who exactly is at fault here?
Is it the business person who signs up for the site without checking what the end result will be or is it BT for offering such a service in the first place?
Mike Cherim responds:
Posted: June 20th, 2007 at 2:53 pm →
The old expression, you get what you pay for, seems to apply here. I am curious to what they will say. Especially BT. Seems like they would find the whole accessibility thing obligatory and not offer anything beside that. If these business sites aren’t accessible, and it’s due to the templates, I feel the responsibility rests on the shoulders of BT, not the site owners. The owners are ignorant to the facts (if they weren’t they’d probably want a “real” site) so I cannot blame them. It’s bad enough owners will place content that breaks the rules, that is to be expected, but they should absolutely be given something in terms of a solid foundation from which to work. BT needs to take the lead the right way. Else, I’d say they is a liability issue at work here.
Jaybee responds:
Posted: June 30th, 2007 at 10:45 am →
Well it took a while but I’ve had a reply. My original email to them said:
The reply is short but sweet:
I await the due course……………………………..
Jaybee responds:
Posted: July 20th, 2007 at 7:24 pm →
Stunned amazement! BT have got back to me, they say they are fully committed to accessibility and want to arrange a phone call to discuss this.
Watch this space.