Most web sites are still ínaccessible

theage.com.au.

A new study has found that most websites fail to meet basic accessibility guidelines. The audit - commissioned by the United Nations - reviewed 100 leading travel, banking, media, government and retail websites in 20 countries including Australia.

The audit found 78 per cent of sites used colour combinations of poor contrast, making it difficult for the vision impaired and colour blind to read content. About 87 per cent caused pop-up windows to appear without warning, causing disorientation among users of screen magnification software, and 92 per cent failed to provide keyboard shortcuts, making it impossible for those who can't use a mouse to navigate the sites.

It also found 93 per cent did not provide adequate text descriptions for graphical content. These are required so text-to-speech software used by the vision impaired can interpret the images.

"The simple truth is that the leading websites around the world are not accessible to many persons with disabilities," the report concluded. "Many of the sites could be easily upgraded to remove obstacles ... however, the majority of sites need considerable work."