Legislation makes Texas Web Designers do due diligence
The agency that establishes web design policies and best practices, the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), recently met to address web accessibility by disabled individuals and foreigners, specifically non-English speakers. New laws were passed that will help these groups navigate cyberspace with greater facility, requiring Texas Web Designers to be meticulous about designing and coding.
Under House Bill 2819 (79th Regular Legislative Session), state agencies are required to ensure that disabled person have the same access to electronic information resources as those who are not disabled. There is one provision. If an agency claims the expense for converting digital information into a format usable for disabled persons will create too great an expense for their agency, they can appeal to have this requirement voided. This could potentially put Texas Web Designers in jeopardy if it is thought they dissuaded a company from making such changes to save money.
Hopefully, this exception will not be abused, but the outcome remains to be seen. By in large, Texas Web Designers are ahead of the game when it comes to high-tech web roll-outs. Some of the biggest corporations in America utilize Texas Web Designers for their web campaigns. But with this new legislation, it is of paramount importance that we do not cut corners to save a few bucks.
All Texas Web Designers, coders, programmers, specialists and IT gurus should be made aware of this crucial change to the way we think about our target audience. Per the Standards Review and Recommendations Publication, “People aged 45 through 54 have an 11.5 percent chance of developing a disability. This figure nearly doubles to 21.9 percent for those aged 55 through 64. The number of workers aged 55 and older will grow from 13 percent of the labor force in 2000 to 20 percent in 2020.” (SRRPUB11) This means even now there is opportunity to expand your market by just making a few changes to your current website. But many businesses are still being told that the expense is not worth it. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The fact is that modifying your website to be more accessible to the visually and hearing-impaired is not that hard at all, nor is it that expensive. Look at Denton County’s website. This is by no means a very affluent community, but even still, they have made the leap forward to accept users of all backgrounds: disabled, non-English speaking, etcWith even very inexpensive software, one can transition over to a website that is fully accessible to the disabled, and even easier to translate for non-English speaking visitors. Texas Web Designers are quickly learning this fact, and it is paying off insofar as they are getting new and repeat business. Moreover, their clients have expanded their market.
It is important that we do not discriminate against disabled individuals by ignoring this legislation. We must make a concerted effort to comply with these standards. If we do, we will all benefit from the increased market share derived from these changes. Moreover, Texas Web Designers will stand as a shining example of what can be accomplished when we concern ourselves with issues affecting our disabled men and women.
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