“Expat-like terms” – made available in a way that is freely sharable, modifiable and redistributable, similar to the Expat software package, whose terms are published at http://www.jclark.com/xml/copying.txt – this is often used as a clear, simple example for encouraging wide distribution of electronic resources (software).

“clandestine Google Analytics” – Google Analytics is a service from Google, Inc for tracking users through a website in various ways. I believe the Data Protection Act means that English websites should obtain informed consent from users by publishing a Privacy Policy on their site which discloses what the GA service will be used for and linking through to GA’s own Privacy Policy. Some websites attempt to run Google Analytics on users’ computers without explaining why and without any Privacy Policy. That is what I mean by “clandestine”.

“valid xhtml” – validating against the eXtensible HyperText Markup Language standards published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) – the underlying language of the web. There is a test service provided at http://validator.w3.org/ and passing it is a key stepping stone towards making an accessible website. There’s not really such a thing as “invalid xhtml” – if it doesn’t pass validation, it’s not xhtml. So I guess I’m guilty of using a tautology sometimes – sorry about that.

Is it worthwhile knowing those three phrases? Are there other key technical phrases which you think site owners should know?

Disability laws require firms to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to their sites to make them more user-friendly but most are completely unaware of the legislation.

Websites shouldn’t discriminate against people with disabilities – and that means everything from colour blindness to motor neurone disease.

But more than that, it makes good business sense to make your website accessible to as many potential customers as possible.  It’s not only UK law but a good advert for your business to set a policy of inclusion for all.

Official figures show that 80 per cent of UK company websites aren’t accessible to a fifth of the population.  Problems for people with disabilities include no including text as an alternative to images for translation by audio readers, and having an effective background & text colour contrast.

Simple changes can make the world of difference to someone with disabilities.  UK websites that don’t comply with the first level of accessibility compliance are not only missing business opportunities but are also ignoring their legal duty to make their websites accessible.

Buzzin’ Fly has specialist knowledge of disability law compliance and website accessibility which can be very useful when having your business website desgined and developed.

For more informaion on website accessibility visit the W3 website.