The Law Society's chief executive Janet Paraskeva welcomed the
new service, which Tesco hopes will 'demystify' the law for the man
on the street. Paraskeva's only qualification was that shoppers
should seek expert legal advice for anything but the most simple of
transactions.
The legal offerings include DIY information kits on residential
lettings, wills, letters of complaint, divorce etc.
Meanwhile, computers and disability charity AbilityNet praised
Tesco for its alternative web site www.tesco.com/access which it
found to be the only site to meet the basic web accessibility needs
of disabled users in a survey of the UK's five most prominent
supermarkets.
Accessibility
According to AbilityNet, the Tesco alternative site is easily
accessed by people with visual impairment, dyslexia or those with a
physical disability making mouse use difficult. The site gains a
four-star rating on AbilityNet's five-star scale.
None of the other sites pass even basic levels of accessibility
and, as a consequence, are losing out on a massive market
opportunity, and possibly breaching the UK's Disability
Discrimination Act.
Somerfield and Tesco's mainstream sites both achieved a two star
rating, while Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda could only manage one
star.
The results are broadly in line with findings from earlier
AbilityNet surveys into web sites operated by leading airlines,
newspapers and banks - industry sectors that, like supermarkets,
have generally led the move into e-business and on-line operation
but all of which failed basic accessibility tests.
According to Robin Christopherson, AbilityNet's Web Consultancy
Manager, himself blind:
"Recently published research by The
Disability Rights Commission shows that able-bodied visitors also
benefit from accessible web sites, finding information easier and
quicker to locate by some 35 %, so the commercial argument is
overwhelming. When we order our groceries on-line we are seeking
critical functionality
not a life-changing experience. Accessible sites are simply easier
to use: they improve productivity for everyone."
Problems
Typical problems encountered by Christopherson and his team
included the hard-coding of the text size on most sites. This makes
the text difficult to enlarge – a facility that is vital for many
visitors with a vision impairment.
AbilityNet found that the text labels attached to images upon
which blind visitors and text browser users rely for an
explanation, were often uninformative or completely absent. Without
these spoken labels on graphical links, navigation for a blind
visitor is pure guesswork.
The survey also found overuse of pictures of text instead of
actual text. This not only means that the user cannot modify font
size or colour contrast – essential for those with a vision
impairment or dyslexia – it also prevents screen reader users from
reading the content when so often these images also do not carry
tool tips (ALT tags).
Other drawbacks common to several of the sites tested include
the reliance on JavaScript – small programs that are built into a
page and often not recognised (and therefore rendered unreadable)
by many older browsers, or some specialist browsers used by those
with vision impairment. As a result, says AbilityNet, the crucial
'shopping basket' process was disabled – and in one case access to
the entire site was denied.
One site embedded important content in a Flash movie interactive
presentation – which cannot be accessed by those visitors who
cannot use a mouse, are vision-impaired, or use speech output or
voice recognition software.
With a potential market of 1.6 million registered blind users,
1.5 million people with cognitive difficulties and a further 3.4
million with disabilities preventing them from using the standard
keyboard, screen and mouse set-up with ease, e-businesses are
losing out on some £50 - £60 billion per year buying power by not
having fully accessible web sites, says AbilityNet.
"The business case for accessible shopping on-line is a powerful
one, so it's now up to our major retailers to walk the talk. The
vision of an inclusive 'e-society' depends on web site
accessibility for everyone, whatever their disability or the
technology they employ," said Shuna Kennedy, AbilityNet's chief
executive.
"The internet has changed the way we access goods and
information beyond recognition. To create a web site which disabled
people can use isn't only a matter of commercial logic and moral
duty; like other suppliers of goods and services, web sites must
now comply with equal access laws under the provisions of the
Disability Discrimination Act," she added.
But Tesco.com should also consider whether it should have an
alternative site at all. The alternative is to have a single site
that is accessible to all. This is preferable, says Trenton Moss of
web usability and accessibility specialists Webcredible, because
alternative sites not only duplicate the work involved in running a
site, they also add to the feeling of marginalisation that many
disabled people already feel within society.
Trenton Moss told OUT-LAW.COM:
"Any organisation making the effort to 'accessify' their web
site is always welcome and should be commended. However, Tesco has
really missed the point of web accessibility here. Web
accessibility is about creating an inclusive-for-all internet, not
dividing us into disabled and non-disabled users.
"Web accessibility isn't rocket science and doesn't have to be
taken to the extreme lengths it's been taken to here. Implementing
accessibility in to a web site is often just a case of a bit of
tweaking here and there. You certainly don't need to make a whole
new web site."
Trenton Moss on alternative web sites (looking at Manchester
United's accessible site).
