"We are ripping the current site down and starting from scratch," said Margaret O'Donnell, web site manager at the RNIB. "The new site will contain new content, a more complex, consistent layout and a new content management system."
O'Donnell said the site, created in-house, had undergone rigorous testing, while its design followed the RNIB's accessibility guidelines. A lab testing day was held in April to improve usability and its staff have been trained to write for the web.
The RNIB has also been involved in an observing capacity in the tendering process for the Disability Rights Commission's investigation into the usability of 1,000 UK sites. The DRC appointed City University's Centre for Human Computer Interaction to help site owners and developers avoid access barriers.
Professor Helen Petrie at City University said: "We will study informational sites, including government and public sector; e-commerce, including financial sites; business sites which provide information, and entertainment sites.
Within those sectors we will choose range categories such as different levels of popularity, business size and so on, with sites selected randomly."
Julie Howell, ±±¾©Èü³µpk10s Officer (Accessible Internet), at the RNIB, added: "There are already guidelines on accessibility from the Web Accessibility Initiative, but this benchmarking exercise is more about usability."
The results, expected at the year end, will be used to set up best practice in site design. "We will not prosecute people on the basis of these findings," said Stephen Beasley, project manager at the DRC. "We may contact companies to offer advice."
Sites have been obliged not to discriminate against people with disabilities since Section 21 of the Disability Discrimination Act came into force in October 1999. "If it is possible to make reasonable adjustments to make your web site accessible by those with disabilities, you must," said Alex Chapman, a lawyer at law firm Briffa.
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