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WAI: Strategies, guidelines, and resources to make the Web accessible to people with disabilities

Requirements/Analysis and changelog for "Contacting Organizations about Inaccessible Websites"

Page Contents

Published Version: "Contacting Organizations about Inaccessible Websites"

Changes Since Publication

July 2017

Updated OS, browser, and tool versions. Changes listed in 27 July e-mail.

April 2010

Changes on 21 April 2010 (from December 2010) were in consideration of the feedback received in January 2010 on the December 2010 public draft and documented below. In summary the changes were:

If you need a detailed list of changes, contact shawn@w3.org.

Purpose, Goals, Objectives

Rationale:
While it can be frustrating to encounter accessibility barriers when trying to use the Web, it can be equally frustrating figuring out how to contact the organizations which own the inaccessible Web site, and explaining in a useful way what kind of barrier was encountered and what needs to be fixed.
Proposal:
Develop a WAI Resource page suggesting different options for contacting organizations which have inaccessible Web sites, and providing samples of letters and materials to send them.
 

Audience

Primary audience:

Secondary audience:

Scenarios / use cases:

Approach

Based on the discussions at the EOWG face-to-face meetings in France, October 2008

Initial ideas for consideration (October 2008)

Open Issues for EO F2F meeting (Nov 2009)

References

WAI-AGE task force and EOWG Discussions:

Related documents:

Previous EO work:

External documents

Changelog

Title evolution:

2010-04-15 Changes

Based on EOWG telecon 9 April:"

2010-04-07 version

2009-12-18 version

2009-12-16 version

2009-12-15 version

2009-12-07 version

2009-12-03 version

Title change

2009-12-02 version

2009-11-30 version

2009-11-17 version

2009-10-28 version

2009-10-16 version

2009-10-08 version

2009-10-06 version

2009-07-02 version

2009-06-23 version

2009-06-18 version

2009-06-11 version

2009-05-27 version

"Further resources" removed as readers should be using main WAI navigation. [NB. subsequently added a reader oriented section "Provide Pointers to Web Accessibility Information"]

2009-04-27 version

Q. does the document need any disclaimer WRT legal issues not being addressed in this document, e.g. that people should seek appropriate legal advice in their own country?
A. felt not to necessary as document does point to http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/ and does suggest seeking legal assistance if you pursue further.

Q. should the OS become a recommended (not optional) thing to include under 'what to report'?
A. no, don't want to put readers off taking this step of contacting an organization.

Edits:

2009-03-15 version

Edits:

2009-03-10 version

Changed document working title to "Contacting Organizations with Inaccessible Websites"

Edits:

2009-02-23 version

Edits:

Pending suggestions from EO:

2009-02-18 version

Edits:

2009-02-06 version

Added:

Note: the LHS navigation is incomplete as we still have to decide the appropriate location for this document within the WAI site

2009-01-14 version

Added:

2009-01-12 version

2010-January Public Draft Feedback

To consider for final release (see April 7 edit notes):

Considered out of scope for this release - consider as future improvements:

Feedback collected during public comment phase in relation to [Draft] Contacting Organizations about Inaccessible Websites:

Wish list for future consideration

For next revision:

For future consideration:


Other notes

Title considerations:

Draft Sample Email for Positive Response

Subject: Good accessibility

Dear [name or position of person you're writing to],

I wanted to let you know that I found the [name of organization] website very accessible. I use [describe your access technology or computer adaptations] to access your website.

When I visited your website I [describe what you were doing on the site] and I liked [describe the good points about your experience].

It is great that [name of organization] has thought about web accessibility. It really helps me because [describe how an accessible website benefits you].

Yours sincerely, [Your name]