What Is PAS 78?
Publically Available Specification 78 was sponsored by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) and published by the British Standards Institute (BSI) in March 2006 to provide guidance to existing, or would-be website owners.
The document covers:
- the commissioning and maintenance of an accessible website
- the guidelines and specifications that should be used
- the role of guidelines, specifications, testing tools and user testing during, and after, the design process.
PAS 78 is not a "set of rules" nor is it "the law".
It is intended to outline "good practice" for all private and public organisations and is a document that non-technical site owners should be able to understand and discuss with their web designers.
PAS 78 follows the normal procedures that define a Publically Available Specification document which means that:
- It is not a consensus document (i.e. not all of the authors involved agreed upon every point)
- It must be reviewed no later than two years following its publication
- It may be considered a 'work in progress' which could mature into a British Standard in the future.
What Is an Accessible Web Site?
Currently, it is not possible to define a "fully accessible website".
The DRC have, themselves, been at great pains to point out that there is no such thing as a "DDA compliant site". The Act focusses on 'reasonable adjustments' and site owner responsibilities. As a result, there is no single yardstick or legal definition that can be used to measure a given site for its compliancy with the Act and no design company can claim to produce sites that comply with all UK legal requirements.
In fact, Section 9.1.1 of PAS 78 specifically states:
"It is not possible to provide a definitive specification for a fully accessible website which will satisfy the requirements of the DDA. Website commissioners should therefore be sceptical if contracting companies declare that they will create websites that are "DDA-compliant" or "compliant with the law"
There is currently no nationally recognised system of accreditation for website developers who claim to create accessible websites that uphold the relevant guidelines and specifications. Groups such as The Guild of Accessible Web Designers exist in order to promote the use and preservation of accessible design standards and may include entry criteria that are intended to ensure a high degree of technical competency but no single group has been endorsed by the DRC.
Existing, or would-be, site owners should, therefore, perform their own reference checks regarding a given design company's competence and experience in developing accessible websites. PAS 78 recomends that checks should include:
- a review of previous work
- references from previous clients
- a practical knowledge of PAS 78
- a practical knowledge of relevant guidelines and specifications
- an appreciation of the implications of "The Disability Discrimination Code of Practice (Goods, Facilities, Services and Premises) 2002"
- familiarity with assistive technologies.
What We Do
We are conversant with the DRC's Code of Practice, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Web Accessibility Initiative's (WAI) recommentations for best practice. Mel Pedley, Black Widow's founder and Senior Designer, was even on the Review Panel for PAS 78.
As an experienced web development company, we can assist you to develop a more accessible and effective web site. We're happy to discuss any web project and provide estimated costs and timescales for any site design or re-design.