For many organisations, especially small ones, building a new web site can be a daunting prospect. Hiring the right web company is critical. There are some things that can be done to get the best value out of the web development process
- At the outset you need a clear purpose for the site and an understanding of the site audience and why they will visit it. Will it engage the intended audience/s? This will help the web company work with you.
- Make sure you are clear about the standard of accessibility you want before hiring – is a web site that will be engaging and usable for all preferable to one that is “tick box” compliant. A standards compliant site can still be equally unusable for everyone.
- Build clear accessibility and usability requirements into your RFP
- Specifically ask for evidence of web accessibility and usability experience and check it out or ask an expert to check it out for you
- Ask the web company for accessibility examples of their work and testimonials from satisfied customers.
- Have they worked alongside independent accessibility experts and how successful was the project?
- Does the web company have values and a philosophy that embraces accessibility and usability? Is the site user more important than design, technology or the next round of web awards?
- Build the standard of accessibility you want into the contract and project milestone deliverables. It is too late to leave accessibility until later in the development process.
- Have a penalty clause if results are not delivered to an acceptable standard
- Make sure advice and technical testing by accessibility experts is included regularly throughout the project
- Build in user testing by disabled people just before the site goes live and allow time to fix any problems
- If, despite everyone’s best efforts your site does not meet the standard of accessibility you ideally want, have a strategy in place to help any visitors who face access barriers complete their task or find the information they need
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