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Comments on PAS 78

The document starts with a brief account of U.K. and international legislation, and initiatives that have resulted in the current impetus and interest in accessible web sites. It describes some of the tools and checklists that exist whereby people can judge the accessibility of their sites.

In its own words, the PAS (Publicly Available Specification) "outlines good practice in commissioning web sites that are accessible to and usable by disabled people. "It gives recommendations for:

The management of the process of, and guidance on, upholding existing W3C guidelines and specifications;
Involving disabled people in the development process and using the current software-based compliance testing tools that can assist with this."

BSI (March 2006), PAS 78, page 5.

The document then defines many I.T. terms connected with web sites and accessiblity, such as "Content Management System" and "Cascading Style Sheets". One might wonder why this glossary appears early in the document rather than at the end, but the next section makes this clear. Section 4 moves straight into Content Formats and then Authoring Tools: not in great detail, but with considerable use of acronyms. It's not long before you're skipping back a page or two. While this section will be hard for a novice and some designers to understand, solutions are also included.

The ultimate test for a web site is for disabled people to use and test it. The extent to which they are involved will depend on the expertise of the designers and the budget of the company. Section 5 explains how disabled people use web sites, but in a very concise and often technical way. This is very much reference rather than instructive material. Fortunately, the PAS often includes web links to more friendly and informative explanations. Section 5 is good for reminding us that the blindness is not the sole disability affected by thoughtless web design.

Section 6 describes what a company should include in its accessibility statement. This is also a good section to wave at your designers and to include in a contract. The rest of section 6 exemplifies the main problem with the PAS: it is often close to impenetrable. In its wish to avoid completely baffling readers who are not familiar with the techniques of developing and maintaining accessible web sites, the PAS gravitates between partial and much bafflement. To provide instruction and explanation would more than double the document, so instead the PAS makes brief statements and gives references if you want to read more.

Section 7 carries on this technique when covering the different file formats that can make up what one sees and hears on a web page. It's not an easy read, but it does serve as a list to shake at your designers.

Section 8 covers the testing of web sites and is increasingly easy to understand as you work through it. It is an important section, as many web sites become the responsibility of the commissioning company when finished. Therefore, it is vital for that company to plan how it will maintain and develop the site, and how it will keep to the standards specified in the accessibility statement.

Section 9 is amusingly short of advice on contracting web design and accessibility auditing services, and understandably so. Anyone can claim to be an accessibility expert producing DDA-compliant web sites: there is no accreditation of web site designers or accessibility consultants. As the closing thirty-fifth page suggests, one can only check that the people you are dealing with understand the topics mentioned in the earlier pages.

The remainder of the specification is a series of annexes covering:

User profiles for disabled testers and users;
User tests for the web site: e.g. buying a product;
Suggested questions for suppliers, which should scare off a few, confuse a few, and challenge a few to reach new heights of sales spin;
Web site accreditation systems; o Industry bodies, sources of research, guidelines and information;
Contracting usability testing services (a strange list of questions that reminds me of surreal job interviews);
How to select a Content Management System. Only a few points, but they can be suitable searching if fully explored. The few CMS that are accessible often only remain so until they are used, so the issue is not only selecting an accessible CMS, but one that prevents its users from producing inaccessible content.

Overall PAS 78 is a strange document. Its brevity is both its strong point and its curse. It offers some guidance and many sources of further information for developers. It offers little explanation for its stated target audience of managers in a company who are commissioning a company web site, but that is probably fair enough. It does offer some buzzwords and sets of initials that some managers will enjoy throwing into conversations with their designers.

I can see the document being the focus of meetings between marketing managers and web developers where both sides are struggling to understand the content of the P.A.S. And perhaps that is the point because the web developers should understand pretty much all of the document, and if they do not then they must seek help from those that do.

Eventually web development software will allow even a novice to produce a 95% accessible web site. Until then, the PAS 78 provides a starting point for commissioners and web developers to produce a list of things to include, check and monitor throughout the life of the web site, and that is a good thing. The British Standards Institute is all about Quality Assurance, and the PAS 78 may well develop into a more substantial standards monitoring system. Until then it is worth coping with the odd curt style of this document - rather like an old-fashioned teacher who hates explaining things - and making it the basis for the development of your next web site.

To learn more about web site accessibility, see: www.staffordshiremedia.co.uk/accessibility

You can download the PAS 78 document from the BSI web site: www.bsi-global.com.

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