Working together for standards The Web Standards Project

The newspapers are reporting that the UK government is worried because an online petition on the 10 Downing Street website has more than a million signatures protesting about transport policy.

Which reminded me that there’s a petition on that site set up by Ian Fenn after the fiasco of the botched Department of Trade and Industry re-design, asking

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that any website launched by the government complies with accessibility standards (WCAG AA at least). http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/govaccessibility/

If you’re a UK citizen or resident, why not add your name? We might not match the million who are against road charging, but if the government and the media are watching that site, we might be heard.

Your Replies

#1 On February 13th, 2007 5:37 pm WaSP Member deanedwards replied:

Signed. :-)

#2 On February 14th, 2007 6:20 am Rick Curran replied:

Yep, I’ve signed this too. I also signed for the above mentioned transport policy one the other day too :)

#3 On February 14th, 2007 7:25 am Matt Robinson replied:

Not sticking up for them, but it’s perhaps worth noting that the UK government has a standard called e-GIF for all their suppliers and internal projects that requires (among various other things like XML metadata) the use of published W3C standards:

At the highest level, complying with e-GIF means:

• providing a browser interface for access
• using XML as the primary means for data integration
• using Internet and World Wide Web standards
• using metadata for content management. — e-Government Interoperability Framework Version 6.1

So the petition should really be calling for this to be enforced and implemented across all web-based services.

#4 On February 14th, 2007 2:29 pm Jordan Clark replied:

I’ve signed up…

Mind you, Bruce, didn’t they originally claim the DTI web site was ‘AA’ compliant ?!

#5 On February 14th, 2007 3:04 pm WaSP Member blawson replied:

They did, Jordan. But Dan Champ complained and they withdrew that claim …

#6 On March 20th, 2007 4:51 am Bruce Lawson’s personal site  : The DTI to the rescue! replied:

[...] The Prime Minister has responded to the petition over UK government sites’ accessibility, which came about becauser of the fuss Dan Champion and I made over the Department of Trade and Industry’s disastrous redesign: “The Government is committed to ensuring that all government websites are accessible and easy to use for people with disabilities. [...]

#7 On May 2nd, 2007 4:19 pm Roman Novak replied:

That is probably a problem of every government in the world. Unfortunately. If I lived in UK, you would can see my signature too.

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