The PAS78 Website Accessibility Initiative

The PAS 78 is a document developed by the BSI and DRC to bring guidance about website accessibility and how to develop accessible websites up to date and to develop a 'best practise' set of rules. The 'PAS 78: Guide to good practise in commissioning accessible websites' has been developed to clear up grey areas for web commissioners when evaluating websites and how accessible they are. It is important to note, the PAS78 document is NOT for developers. It is aimed squarely at raising awareness of accessibility to those commissioning websites.

Much confusion is still abound as to exactly how to make accessible websites and what makes a website accessible, so by developing this standard, companies and developers alike will know how to reach new markets and comply with legislation.

When was PAS78 launched?

PAS78 was officially launched on March the 8th 2006 in London. Anne McGuire MP, Minister for Disabled People, hosted the event with companies such as Tesco.com and Legal and General discussing their experiences and business benefits they have received after complying with accessibility guidelines and legislation.

Is PAS a British standard?

Getting BSI standards passed can take years so although PAS78 is not yet a standard, it has been developed using the same rigorous processes. Despite PAS78 not being a standard or even a law, organisations such as the DRC will be using the PAS78 guidelines to clamp down on companies not making their websites as accessible as possible.

Who developed PAS78?

PAS78 has been developed by a group of accessibility experts with years of experience in developing and designing websites for blind, visually impaired and disabled website users. There are over 80 experts on the PAS panel each with different background and areas of specialism. Contributors include experts from the BBC, the Cabinet Office, IBM, and Tesco.

Business benefits of complying with PAS78

Making websites accessible makes sense for a variety of reasons. Compliance with UK law, increased market reach and good PR are just a few. But there are real financial benefits for companies making accessible websites. At the launch of PAS78, Legal and General discussed the benefits they have seen from making their website accessible including;

95% increase in visitors getting a life insurance quote
90% increase in sales of online Life insurance
100% ROI in less than 12 months
Savings of £200K annually on site maintenance
30% increase in natural search-engine traffic
"significant improvement” in Google rankings “for all target keywords”
75% reduction in time for page to load
Browser-compatibility (not a single complaint since)
Accessible to mobile devices
Time to manage content “reduced from average of five days to 0.5 days per job”

Many believe that compliance with PAS78 and WAI guidelines has to be done from a legal stand point, but as L&G prove, there are many other benefits which can impact business.

How to make your website PAS78 compatible

As discussed, complying with PAS78 doesn't make your website accessible immediately. Testing by real disabled users of your website will uncover the main areas which need attention and point you in the best ways to make your website accessible. However, by picking the right company with experience in developing accessible websites to the WAI guidelines, will make PAS78 compliance much easier. Adido Solutions have been developing to the WAI guidelines since 2004 and can achieve any level of WAI compliance necessary for your business.

To talk to our team or one of our accessibility experts, call us on 01202 853610 or email us using our contact form.