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Home > News > INT: Sharpening web content certification and accessibility > INT: Sharpening web content certification and accessibility
practice INT: Sharpening web content certification and accessibility
INT: Sharpening web content certification and accessibility
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6 November 2006
Last Edited Date
18 June 2007
Country
International Organizations
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ePractice Editorial Team (EUROPEAN DYNAMICS SA) | Belgium
Not all websites are born equal. Some are more ‘accessible’ to all kinds of web browsers and eventual users than others. The European Commission is supporting efforts to develop unified evaluation methods to improve e-Accessibility in line with international norms, but the web is not always easy to tame.
Standards underpin the design and functioning of all manner of industrial tools, machinery and research. In many ways, web design also benefits from agreed standards, especially in creating web pages which can be accessed by the widest possible audience, including people with disabilities and the elderly.
The European Commission’s Information Society Directorate-General encourages European organisations to get behind the work of the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) which, in its words, “develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the web to its full potential as a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understandingâ€.
But even with the same set of guidelines, checking a website’s accessibility can be carried out in different ways. So, the Commission is also supporting work to develop Unified Web Evaluation Methodology (UWEM) to ensure that large-scale web evaluations from potentially remote locations are compatible and coherent with the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) – part of the broad-reaching Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).
As technology becomes more pervasive in daily life, efforts are being made to ensure that the millions of Europeans with disabilities and the elderly are not left behind. Careful web design, based on a set of relatively simple rules concerning the content, structure and coding, can improve e-Accessibility and bridge the so-called ‘digital divide’.
Work is currently underway to prepare the UWEM for the foreseen migration from WCAG 1.0 to WCAG 2.0. This, suggests the Commission, should sharpen the tool’s ability to evaluate, certify, and benchmark web content in line with the European Union’s broader e-Inclusion policy.
UWEM is the product of a joint effort by 23 European organisations in three European projects which formed the WAB (Web Accessibility Benchmarking) Cluster. The next phase of the cluster’s work will focus on helping and supporting the W3C’s work.
Further information:
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Updated measurement nethodology template available for comments
The template used in October 2008 in the Copenhagen meeting has been updated with the comments collected in that meeting and following discussions.
You find the full document at http://www.epractice.eu/community/egovmonet/view_resources/drafttemplate...
Please post your comments to the template here. We plan to collect them by 3. of February and prepare a final update of the template to be used in the the workshop in Hungary as described at:
http://www.epractice.eu/workshop/38
test text
Final mcegov seminar – 23rd February 2009!
Dear All,
warm welcome to our new members!
I am pleased to inform you that we are organising Final MC-eGov seminar in Brussels on the 23rd of February 2009: “Inclusive eGovernment - Sustainable Services for Socially Excluded Peopleâ€.
As you probably know, the study was commissioned by the DG Information Society and Media and undertaken by Ecotec Research and Consulting Ltd.
The event will take place in Brussels on the 23rd of February 2009, 9:30-16:45 at the EC premises. Agenda and the venue fill follow shortly. Language: English. Participation has no cost. Interested please register at: inclusive_egov@ecotec.com.
For more information: http://www.mcegov.eu/ and Inclusive eGovernance Community on ePractice.
Short description of the study:
This year-long Project has been addressing “Multi-channel Delivery Strategies and Sustainable Business Models for Public Services addressing Socially Disadvantaged Groupsâ€.
In the current environment of economic and social stress, the demand for services for socially excluded people is significant, and is putting government finances under ever greater pressure. Because services for disadvantaged groups in society are complex and often expensive, efficiency and effectiveness are central to designing and delivering services that offer sustainable value to socially excluded people. This can mean multi-channel services, but, overall, integration is the key. Integration requires new ways of approaching the issue, including fresh thinking on business models and a renewed commitment to achieving common social policy goals.
The study:
• Presents research evidence supporting the validity and significance of Inclusive eGovernment approaches;
• Offers a practical framework for understanding inclusive eGovernment, and identifying the components and key steps necessary to move forward;
• Uses real case study material to illustrate inclusive eGovernment approaches in action;
• Promotes a “sustainable network value†paradigm.
We are very interested in your experience and views and believe that this will inspire great discussions. All are welcome!
Kind regards,
Project Team
Could the eProcurement Demonstrators be translated to other lang
The Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the IDABC eProcurement Dynamic Demonstrators can support multiple languages, allowing users to experiment with all functionalities in their preferred display language. To this end, new GUI languages can be added to the demonstrators. Furthermore, the text of existing GUI languages can be modified.
The procedure for adding a new GUI language to the demonstrators includes three steps:
- Creation of the language property file
- Creation of images
- Modification of the application configuration file
All steps are defined in detail in the Translation Manual of the eProcurement Demonstrators, which is available at:
http://forge.osor.eu/projects/eprocdemos
If you need additional information, you can also contact the helpdesk service of the demonstrators.
The eProcurement Demonstrators Helpdesk Team.
UWEM and Euracert
Several things have happened since the publication of this news item on 6 November 2006 (http://www.epractice.eu/document/270). The Web Accessibility Benchmarking Cluster (WAB Cluster) continued working on the Unified Web Evaluation Methodology (UWEM) and published newer versions: version 1.1 became available in July 2007, version 1.2 in November 2007. UWEM 1.2 is an evaluation methodology for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) levels A and Double-A. However, as WCAG 2.0 was nearing completion during the WAB Cluster's work on UWEM, the UWEM editors also created a migration plan that describes how UWEM could be upgraded to WCAG 2.0.
In October 2007, UWEM became the basis for a new European web accessibility label, Euracert. See "New European web accessibility label launched" (1 October 2007):
http://www.epractice.eu/document/3940
UWEM 1.2 is available on the WAB Cluster web site at http://www.wabcluster.org/uwem1_2/