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The lastest SiteMorse survey of local government websites has reported that a third of local government websites struggle to achieve above accessibility ratings of 50% or over for their websites. Website accessibility is covered by the Disability Discrimination Act and is designed to ensure that those with visual and hearing impairment are not excluded from online services.

Only two thirds of councils achieved more than 50% of the basic WAI Priority 1 'A' rated accessibility standard. Three quarters of council websites failed to met government standards for metatags as specified under e-GIF guidelines. Only two council websites achieved the higher WAI Priority 2 'AA' accessibility rating.

SiteMorse also reported that the majority of council websites suffer from major program code errors and broken links. Over fifty percent of council websites failed to meet acceptable download speeds.

The reasons for the poor showing by many councils is due to a mix of issues says David Roberts, Amatica's director for strategy and marketing. "In the early days, many councils relied on people who moved themselves into web development roles because it was 'cool'. Now they're straddled with editing content and the website's functionality suffers. Many who've adopted content managed solutions had bought systems from minor software publishers which now have serious limitations. Many councils just don't know how to tackle the problem and fix it".

David Roberts also considers that the slow download speeds common with council websites points to similar problems. "Councils have probably hosted their websites with small and emerging ISPs in the late 1990s or are trying to host inhouse without access to proper expertise and resources".

Using its experience of delivering websites and managing web and ISP technologies. Amatica is offering a fixed priced based consultancy service to advise councils on raising their ratings and website's performance. "Amatica has developed websites which meet WAI Priority 1 and 2 accessibility guidelines and developed the highest rated financial services website surveyed by SiteMorse. We're in an ideal position to give practical help to councils wishing to reach their goals" says David Roberts.

© Amatica 26/10/2004