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For Release: December 9, 1999
For More Information:
D'Anne Hotchkiss
Ellsworth Kaye, Inc.
319-393-8786
danneh@ellsworthkaye.com
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA -- A report released today shows the Web sites of nine leading presidential candidates flunk accessibility requirements to be viewed by those with disabilities or by those using compact-display computer devices. OrbitAccess, an Internet and Web communications service headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, issued the report, "Web Accessibility of the Presidential Candidate Sites." No Web site of U.S. presidential candidates fully met even the first level of handicapped accessibility.
Site inaccessibility is a common Web site flaw. OrbitAccess preliminary research of U.S.-based sites shows that fewer than five percent meet even minimum accessibility requirements. Frequently, sites are designed to look good, but not to communicate well. "Fundamentally, Web sites are a communications medium. When a site cannot be navigated because of barriers, or when it functions in unintended ways, then that primary purpose is compromised," report author Dennis Báthory-Kitsz said. Images used in place of text, forced page refresh, meaningless links to other parts of the site, and the absence of text alternatives and descriptive, contextual information -- known as the 'd' link -- were defects commonly found.
More than half of all American households have access to the Web, but not only from desktop computers. While most desktop computers are equipped with Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator -- the 'big two' browsers -- the Web is increasingly used by speech browsers, compact-display units such as palmtops, set-top boxes and other Internet appliances, and other graphical browsers. The report shows voters attempting to access sites using anything other than the two browsers above face sometimes significant communications barriers.
The barriers potentially violate ADA requirements for barrier-free access to public places. "Election 2000 is the second presidential election in the Web era, but we're more than 30 years into the age of disability access. We think it incumbent upon presidential candidates to make sure their sites at the very least achieve basic accessibility," said Báthory-Kitsz.
The OrbitAccess evaluation lab used the Web Accessibility Guidelines developed by World Wide Web Consortium, which develops standards for Web languages and protocols. The Guidelines have three levels of access. Level One is the easiest to meet.
None of the nine sites passed Level One requirements. Sites for Democrats Bill Bradley and Al Gore, and Republicans Gary Bauer, Pat Buchanan, George W. Bush, Steve Forbes, Orrin Hatch, Alan Keyes and John McCain, were reviewed between November 29 and December 4.
Overall, Senator McCain ranked at the top for proper redirection to pages appropriate for the selected browser, followed by Vice-President Gore for attention to Level 1 access issues. Mr. Forbes and Governor Bush trailed the pack for poor implementation of links in context and lack of page clarity as a whole. Six software tools, plus manual checking, were used to evaluate the sites against the Guidelines. The full report, including a scorecard for each candidate, is available at www.orbitaccess.com/presidential.
Sites designed for common desktop browsers can function unexpectedly on other Internet access tools. Television set-top boxes don't play all multimedia. Palmtop computers hide information in off-screen tables or jumble their contents. Other handhelds don't show Web site index frames. Had the sites conformed to the accessibility structure built into the Web's language, HTML (HyperText Markup Language), the communications barriers would have been avoided.
"That language calls for the content, not the look, of a Web page to be identified. Pages created by indicating content as headings, paragraphs, quotes and so forth let site visitors navigate easily, without communications obstacles," Báthory-Kitsz said. "The HTML structure has been largely ignored as people have tried to give Web pages the look and feel of printed materials."
Evaluation tools included Bobby, a Web-based evaluation tool that uses the Guidelines to product a list of errors and site barriers. Sites were viewed first using Netscape Navigator to determine how the sites were meant to appear in an ordinary graphical view on a desktop computer. To determine how they appear on a compact-display user, sites were viewed using Web browser ProxiWeb, operating on the 3Com Palm V palmtop computer. To determine handicapped accessibility, the sites were viewed using Lynx, a text-only browser, and speech browser Home Page Reader, an IBM program made to work with Netscape to determine what material should be read aloud.
Ranked for accessibility, Candidate McCain placed first, followed by Gore, Bauer, Bradley and Hatch in the top half. Buchanan, Forbes, Bush followed them. Keyes finished last.
Candidates were given letter ratings based on graphical results when viewed on a compact-display device. Gore received an 'A', Bradley, 'A minus', and Buchanan a 'B'. Bush, Hatch, McCain and Forbes each earned a 'C'. Keyes earned a 'D' and Bauer an 'F'.
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