Your competitor’s website is just a “click” away.  Once you have them how are you going to keep them?  On the other hand how is your website serving the community?   If your website does not support people with disabilities you are at risk of losing that customer forever as well as not providing legislatively required service levels.  Accessibilty Compliance about profitability as well as better meeting the needs customers and users. 

Today consumers have so much choice to make on-line purchases.  As your competitor’s website is just a “click” away, you need to ensure that once you have them how on your site, how are you going to keep them?  On the other hand how is your website serving the community?   If your web site does not support people with disabilities you are at risk of losing that customer for ever as well as not providing basic service levels.  Compliance is about profitability and meeting the needs of a new group of customers and users. 

• Governments are implementing accessibility standards for people with disabilities (e.g. U.S. Section 508,  Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and W3 guidelines)

• Government websites must services the community they support and govern. 

•  Major search engines favor accessible websites over those that aren't.  

• Up to 4.25 million Canadians live with some form of vision loss.  If your site is incompatible with screen reading software and other adaptive technology solutions, you could be missing this audience.  

•  Accessible websites work better on PDAs, cell phones and similar devices.  

• Accessible sites are also more usable sites, especially important for non-technical and older audiences.  With demographic trends and the growing cohort of baby boomers, accessible sites reach many more customers.

•  Corporations and government organizations invest much effort and money to create a positive image. A key component of successful image programs is Community Service. Adding accessibility accommodation functions to the website is a service to the disabled community. 

• Accessible sites are also more usable sites, especially important for non-technical and older audiences. With demographic trends and the aging cohort of baby boomers, accessible sites will reach many more customers.

NegenIT assesses your website based on a three-phase review.

• Establish website purpose, design, audience, accessiblity requirments
• Detailed website "Best Practices" design standard compliance
• Accessibility assessment by trained professionals and focus groups

Our assessments can be performed on existing sites or on sites that are in development to ensure "Best Practices" design and accessibility requirements are included in the planning and development stages. In addition our assessments can be performed remotely or at your location.

NegenIT, in conjunction with disability support bodies, maintains Accessibility Implementation Guidelines for the design of a website to ensure usability by individuals with disabilities. They include design guidance specifically to address the following disabilities:

• blindness and low vision,
• colour blindness and photosensitivity,
• deafness and hearing loss,
• learning disabilities,
• cognitive limitations,
• motion control difficulties, limited movement,
• speech difficulties,
• developmental disabilities,
• intellectual disabilities, and
• combinations of the above.

We prescribe the design changes web pages require to accommodate special needs.  Changes include functional additions to the website that provide:

• Presentation of information in different formats;
• User ability to determine changes to website functions;
• Support of Adaptive Technologies – equipment or software that assists people with disabilities.

Examples include:

• Screen readers and voice input software;
• Alternate language(s);
• Instructions on how to present the functions so that users with disabilities:

Know the capabilities exist,

• Understand what the capabilities are,
• Will know how to use them, and
• Can return to “normal”, if required.

Standards Compliance

NegenIT maintains its Accessibility Implementation Guidelines to reflect the latest changes in legislation and industry Best Practices and currently are fully consistent with:

• Draft Province of Ontario Accessible Information and Communications Standards Development Committee Proposed Standard;
• Ontario Human Rights Code;
• Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005,
• Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2001
• WCAG 2.0 from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C);
• US Section 508

Let NegenIT provide to you a complimentary summary of your websites accessibility and recommended improvements.   Iinclude your website address on the contact form. You have nothing to lose – except potential customers.

• Determine their website is usable by all sectors of the population
• Ensure their website reflects their positive corporate image – accessible, and able to provide services to all sectors of the public.
• Improve traffic through search engines.
• Keep all traffic that arrives.
• Establish compliance with Disabilities legislation
• Certification of Compliance

To Learn More:

To learn more email NegenIT at solutions@negenit.com or call NegenIT at 416-421-2017.