475 CASE STUDY: DESIGNING FOR WEB ACCESSIBILITY Lorna Gibson, Scott Milne, Peter Gregor, David Sloan Digital Media Access Group Department of Applied Computing, University of Dundee, DUNDEE, Scotland, DD1 4HN ABSTRACT There is still a large percentage of web resources that are inaccessible to many individuals. The authors previously developed a meta-method for evaluating the accessibility of existing web resources and now feel there is a need to provide advice on designing for accessibility during the development lifecycle. Despite the large quantity of resources on accessible design now available, there is still a shortage of practical information for web developers on the steps to be taken towards implementation. More importantly, it is difficult to ascertain where exactly to place accessibility within the developer’s successful, structured development lifecycle. This paper details a series of steps used by the authors to provide some structure to designing their web resource to be accessible. These steps include using existing tools and techniques and combines this with what the authors call “accessible sense”. KEYWORDS Accessibility, Usability, Disability, Evaluation, Design, Development. 1. INTRODUCTION The need to produce accessible World Wide Web resources has been shown to be vitally important and the reasons are more evident than ever. As much as legal imperatives have been a huge incentive in the UK, US, Australia and elsewhere, there are many other reasons why accessibility is being considered. These include the need to provide a product to the widest possible market and on a wide range of browsing platforms. Industry is now starting to see the commercial benefits of accessibility. Support is already available (Rowan et al, 2000; Sloan et al, 2000) for reviewing and auditing existing web sites for accessibility. However there is a need for a procedural, step-by-step guide to aid in the design and development of new accessible web sites, a guide which this paper aims to initiate. Ensuring the accessibility of a web resource throughout the development lifecycle need not be a cause for distress for web designers and web developers. The authors believe that incorporating accessibility into an appropriate methodology, such as WebML, need not compromise the goal of designing a visually attractive, innovative web site. Accessibility should not be seen as constraining creative ability but as an additional skill, bringing with it the opportunity to demonstrate creative talents to a wider variety of people. 2. DESIGNING FOR WEB ACCESSIBILITY 2.1 Development of a suitable approach The authors believe that a stronger emphasis needs to be placed on accessibility. In particular, it should be made a structured part of the software development process and should be considered as important as requirements gathering. Used iteratively, accessibility should be considered and revisited at every stage of development. The approach detailed in this paper was developed during the redevelopment of the authors' own web site (www.dmag.org.uk) and was subsequently used in the development of a similarly sized resource for a third party (www.contractwise.co.uk). For the group's own web site, it was particularly important to ensure