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State of the eNation Reports
Gift buying on-line lacks seasonal cheer for disabled shoppers
18 January 2008
The UK’s top on-line retailers could boost disappointing Christmas sales with the buying power of a market sector worth an estmated £120 billion, reports computing and disability charity, AbilityNet, in a survey released today. The charity’s sixth quarterly e-Nation assessment of the top websites in selected industry areas concludes that the leading shopping sites have failed their disabled customers seeking gifts for friends and family on the Internet this Christmas.
Not one of the ten sites evaluated for both usability and accessibility using a series of both manual checks and automated tools achieved the minimum three stars required to meet the needs of visitors with a vision impairment, dyslexia or physical problem making mouse use difficult.
All the sites reviewed were invited to make a public commitment to accessibility and to date, Fortnum & Mason, Hotel Chocolat, IwantOneOfThose.com and NeedAPrsent.com, have pledged to improve standards. The remaining retailers: Amazon, CD-Wow, Gadget Shop, LastMinute.com, Toy Centre, Wine Online did not respond.
The results are broadly in line with findings from earlier AbilityNet surveys into websites operated by premiership football clubs, leading airlines, newspapers, banks and supermarkets. Says Robin Christopherson, AbilityNet’s Web Consultancy Manager, himself blind:
“It is illegal to bar disabled visitors from on-line services offered to the general public. Whilst no organisation would knowingly impose a ‘technological lock-out’ on their disabled customers, it is clear that there is still much scope for improvement.”
Typical problems encountered by Christopherson and his team included:
Text size on some sites, particularly for headings and links is ‘hard-coded’ so that it cannot be easily enlarged – so vital for many visitors who have a vision impairment. With some sites offering small text and others carrying a watermark, effective access for this group is made very difficult.
The text labels attached to images upon which blind visitors and text browser users rely for an explanation are often uninformative or completely absent. Without these spoken labels on graphical links, navigation for a blind visitor is pure guesswork. “Imagine trying to drive to your destination where exits at each junction are left blank,” says Christopherson.
Pictures of text are often used instead of actual text. This not only means that the user cannot modify the text size or colour contrast – essential for those with a vision impairment or dyslexia – it also prevents screen reader users from reading the content when – as so frequently happens - these images are left unlabelled.
Some sites contain adverts and features made up of moving images that will be distracting for visitors with a cognitive impairment, or interactive presentations known as ‘Flash Movies’ which can present access problems for visitors who cannot use a mouse, are vision impaired or who use speech output or voice recognition software.
Most of the sites are reliant on mini programs embedded in the page called JavaScript. People using older browsers, those with vision impairments using some special browsers and users whose organisations disable JavaScript for security reasons, will not be able to access the sites fully - links to the main sections do not appear or the search and shopping cart facilities do not operate fully.
These sites exclude a hugely valuable potential market comprising 1.6 million vision impaired users, 1.5 million people with cognitive difficulties, a further 3.4 million with disabilities preventing them from using the standard keyboard, screen and mouse set-up with ease, some 6 million with dyslexia and many millions with literacy difficulties, not to mention the increasing number of elderly ‘silver surfers’ with failing eyesight or arthritis. The total spending power of this group is now estimated at over £120 billion a year. When retailers are bewailing tight profit margins and a lean Christmas, they ignore this significant slice of the market at their peril.
Of the sites sampled Amazon, Hotel Chocolat and NeedAPresent.com obtained a two star ranking and the rest obtained a single star.
Adds Christopherson:
“At AbilityNet we subscribe to the opinion that an organisation’s website can and should be accessible to the broadest audience possible. Recently published research* by The Disability Rights Commission shows that able-bodied visitors also benefit from accessible websites, finding them easier and quicker to use by a very significant factor of 35 %, so the commercial argument is overwhelming. When we seek information, services or goods on-line, we are seeking critical functionality - namely speed and efficiency – not a life-changing experience. Accessible sites are simply easier and more intuitive to use: they improve productivity for everyone.”
“The vision of an inclusive ‘e-society’ depends on
website accessibility for everyone, whatever their disability or the
technology they employ,”
comments Shuna Kennedy, AbilityNet’s
chief executive.
“Cyberspace contains just as many barriers to participation as the physical world, but this need not be the case. With only 9% of website developers claiming any real understanding of access issues* – we’re asking for commitment to change, supported by education and awareness.”
State of the eNation reports
AbilityNet is at the forefront of a number of initiatives both at home and abroad to improve website accessibility for disabled people and provide both private and public sector organisations with the expertise they need to ensure that their websites are meeting guideline levels of compliance (such as those recommended by the W3C/WAI).
AbilityNet’s ‘State of the eNation’ reports are designed to draw attention to the issue of accessibility and usability and to help disabled people find the best websites for their needs. AbilityNet’s next report, due to be published in December, will focus on ten popular sites for Christmas shopping.
For more information on website accessibility, usability and design, contact AbilityNet on 0800 269545 or on accessibility@AbilityNet.org.uk
* The Web: Access and Inclusion for Disabled People – DRC Press Office or http://www.drc-gb.org/PDF/2.pdf
22 December 2004
Issued by the AbilityNet Press Office - 01926 429595
Editor’s notes
W3C/WAI
These guidelines, first published in May 1999, provide a framework for accessibility. There are over 65 individual W3C checkpoints arranged in three levels of compliance to test for and only about a third can be assessed for conformity by an automated tool such as Watchfire’s Bobby. A comprehensive series of manual and automated tools, including the enterprise version of the Bobby accessibility testing solution, AccessibilityXM, is employed by AbilityNet in carrying out its surveys.
Euroaccessibility project
On 28 April 2003 in Paris, 24 European organisations from 12 countries agreed to establish a certification authority for web accessibility leading to an Accessibility Quality Mark. AbilityNet joined other disability charities, universities and communications companies in cooperation with US-based W3C/WA1, to pursue this objective, which aims to harmonise standards Europe-wide.
About AbilityNet
AbilityNet is a charity that brings the benefits of computer technology to adults and children with all types of disabilities. Through its network of eleven centres, it offers a comprehensive range of services to disabled people, professionals, employers and statutory bodies. It provides free information and advice on any aspect of computer use by disabled people including individual assessment of technology needs, adapted computer equipment with full training and technical support, a programme of awareness education, and consultancy for employers on system and workstation adaptations, as well as website accessibility.
In 2003 AbilityNet handled over 19,000 enquiries from disabled people and those supporting them through its national freephone service and regional centres. In addition, the charity's consultants saw over 2,000 disabled children and adults face-to-face for individual assessments, equipment, training sessions and home support visits.
In the same year, AbilityNet's professional education courses and seminars attracted nearly 4,000 staff from public, private and voluntary sector organisations, seeking to develop their awareness of adaptive technology for those with disabling conditions and learn practical solutions to apply in the workplace, at home or in education.
AbilityNet is dependent both nationally and locally on grants and donations from charitable trusts and companies, to carry out its work on behalf of disabled people and those who support them.
For further details check www.abilitynet.org.uk or call AbilityNet’s freephone helpline on: 0800 269545
Issued by:
Caroline Saint Freedman,AbilityNet Press Office
Tel: 01926 429595
Fax: 01926 407425
Email: AbilityNet Press Office
For more information:
- Email accessibility@AbilityNet.org.uk
- Phone 0800 269545
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