Creatives shun Web accessibility (plus a lot more)

The following article was published by mad.co.uk. The only thing that shocks me is that the research found 48% of creatives who were aware of the issues involved in building usable web sites. I would have put the figure closer to 10%.

Accessibility, usability and age friendliness are all part of the same thing – designing sites to work for their intended audiences. Until creatives understand that building great web sites means delivering every aspect of their company’s brand values we will continue with some of the ghastly sites that are still produced. Have a look at my article about brands and the web that appears in the current issue of brand strategy. Dick Stroud www.20plus30.com


Over half of those working in the creative communities are not aware of all the issues surrounding the accessibility of websites, according to exclusive research carried out by mad.co.uk.

Nearly 52 per cent of respondents to a mad.co.uk survey said that they were unaware of all of the issues involved with creating accessible websites. This figure makes worrying reading given that all websites now have to be compliant with basic accessibility standards laid out in the Disability Discrimination Act.

A number of reasons have been put forward for this confusion and lack of knowledge about the issue of web accessibility. One respondent from the agency side said that clients just do not regard the issue as a central one.

"From my day-to-day contact with clients and other studios, accessibility and usability are now a hot issue, but few are actually putting it into practice. Many clients see it as an add-on which they can strip out to save costs, and not an essential part of their web-presence. More education is needed all round," he said.

Another blamed providers of web technologies, such as Flash, which it was claimed are not doing enough to make their solutions accessible. Many people also claim that it is difficult to reconcile excellence in creativity with the new standards of accessibility that are now being demanded. As one respondent put it, "There's a real crisis between fully accessible websites to people of all disabilities and creativity. Design and creativity are often being sacrificed as websites don't have the budget to combine the two. Often the issue is just ignored in a 'you can't please everyone' fashion."

Another creative claimed that the issue goes much further than ignorance of the standards required and said that some web designers are deliberately avoiding the issue.

"Most web designers are scared of web accessibility issues, and just think that accessible equals boring designs. There is a fashion for text that is way too small, mostly because websites are designed by young people, who are already wearing glasses."

Whatever the reasons behind this lack of interest in accessibility issues, brands are going to have to wake up to the concept or face being boycotted by a consumer population that is growing ever more aware of its online rights.