The new complies with accessibility guidelines of the Web Accessibility Initiative set up by the World Wide Web Consortium, which develops guidelines and technologies to improve web usage.
It was developed in accordance with the RNIB web recommendations, so that disabled users and the visually impaired can access and use the site.
The NAS site covers news, advice and support, and features a search engine, site map and improved navigations to help users. Visitors can sign up for a newsletter and can make donations online.
The site, designed by Neale Network, also features a new content management system provided by Polopoly, enabling individual departments within the Society to update information throughout the day.
Bettina Langlois, web editor at NAS, said: "The new site gives a clean outward-facing, client-focused face for the organisation. The navigation has been designed in response to feedback we have received over the last three years from our users. It is hoped that the improved accessibility will allow disabled users to benefit from the wealth of advice and information on the site."
Research published today by the Disability Rights Commission shows that there are high levels of ignorance among web developers about how to make sites accessible for disabled people, with only 9% of web developers using disabled people to test their sites.
The body tested 1,000 public websites and found that 81% of them failed to meet minimum standards for disabled web access, and that the average home page of carries 108 barriers that make it impossible or very difficult for disabled people to use.
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