Summary

In November 2010, the Accessibility Foundation was commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations to research the extent to which websites of Dutch municipalities and the website of the government adhere to the Web Guidelines (Webrichtlijnen), the Dutch quality and accessibility guidelines. The result of this research, the Accessibility Monitor 2011, is the fifth report the Accessibility foundation created on the accessibility and quality of municipal websites since 2004.

The websites of all 418 municipalities and the website www.rijksoverheid.nl (the website of the Dutch government) have been subjected to a preliminary investigation by accessibility-experts into the adherence to The Web Guidelines. The investigation was conducted part manually and part automatically and is the biggest of it kind ever performed in the EU.

In the Netherlands, municipalities and central government organisations that are subject to ministerial responsibility are obliged to comply with the Web Guidelines. The Web Guidelines deal with designing, building and administrating websites. They are based on international quality and accessibility standards, such as WCAG, as well as on practically proven solutions by professionals. The deadline for complying to the guidelines was the end of 2010. In the Accessibility Monitor 2011, researchers concluded that 98% of websites of municipalities do not comply to the Web Guidelines. Only 4 of 418 municipalities comply to the guidelines.

Within the Web Guidelines, the (minimal) accessibility guidelines are the most important. These guidelines, essentially the WCAG priority 1 checkpoints, make sure information is available for everyone, regardless of (dis)ability. 92 percent of websites of Dutch municipalities do not comply to the minimal accessibility guidelines.

The effort many municipalities have put in to improve their website since 2005 is clearly visible. The increasing usage of advanced techniques is a positive sign. It increases the quality of many websites. At the same time it is worrisome that when placing new information, municipalities don't take accessibility sufficiently into account, for example when placing new videos or when using headings.

An important part of the Web Guidelines is the ability for search engines to find information. This ‘findability’ has improved over the years, but it is remarkable that 11 percent of municipalities do not succeed in providing their relevant (and quite unique) content through search engine google.nl.

The Accessibility Foundation recommends Dutch municipalities and government to safeguard the quality of their websites throughout their whole lifespan. It is important to include the Web Guidelines in the procurement phase of new projects and to have the end result checked by an impartial party. Make suppliers, if any, responsible for their contributions. New content on existing websites also deserves attention, web-editors play a crucial role here. Finally, make sure employees who are dealing with the website have good education and supply them with relevant knowledge and information. Make employees aware of the use of the Web Guidelines. Not only for developers, but also for project leaders, consultants, editors and testers.

For more information please contact the Accessibility Foundation:

e-mail: info@accessibility.nl
telephone: +31 30 - 239 82 70
website: www.accessibility.nl (English)