Accessibility and Security Plan

Accessibility

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is a basic human right ‘that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with diverse abilities’.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 developed by W3C process lists certain criteria for website creators which will enable people with disabilities to be able to access content equitably. WCAG 2 at a Glance provides a paraphrased summary of the guidelines.

One of the guidelines listed is to provide text alternatives ["ALT" text] for graphic images, to enable visually impaired people, who visit a website the ability to read the words using a screen reader.

The Legal Links website has adhered to this guideline to ensure accessibility for visitors and this includes members of the population who require visual support i.e. dyslexia, visually impaired and English as a second language.

Future Accessibility Plan

A future enhancement for this website is to research and evaluate suitable products to provide content to these visitors. Initial research has located BrowseAloud as a possible screen reader software.

Security

Kim Guenther (2003) highlights the importance of ensuring is security for our website. Although the Legal Links website will not require username and password authentication to gain access, one section of concern is the personal or confidential information retrieved via the online form on the Contact Us page.

Future Security Plan

In order to protect the information acquired via the online form, the Legal Links website will investigate the possibly of using a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encrypted web form. Microsoft have provided codes for website developers and Web-form-buddy offers a software solution which offers a free trial which will be evaluated for consideration as a suitable product.

Advantages

• Protects personal and confidential information
• Visitors will trust your website

Disadvantages

• Hackers are continually inventing new ways to gain access to information
• SSL certificate expires after a short period of time and it requires renewals which are quite expensive