PAS 78 To Become Full Standard
Released in March 2006, Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 78 – “Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites” – was developed in order to tackle some of the confusion surrounding web accessibility. It is not a replacement for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) but is a non-technical document which aims to assist site owners and managers by describing the role of standards and user testing within site development.
But, although developed by the British Standards Institute (BSi), a PAS is not a standard. It is a sponsored piece of work that can be made available quickly to suit the market need of the developers and users of a product, process or service. In comparison, a full standard requires several more stages of development and a full consensus before it can be published. However, a PAS – which must be reviewed every two years – can be the first step in the creation of a formal standard.
PAS 78 – originally sponsored by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) – is approaching its first review date and the decision has been taken to develop it into a formal British Standard. Although the new standard will build on PAS 78, it is hoped that the final standard will be cover the Web 2.0 services that were simply not around when work on the PAS first began – such as social networking and rich internet applications. E-commerce is also expected to come under scrutiny.
The completed standard will be owned by BSi (a commercial organisation ) so there will be a price attached to it. PAS 78, initially priced at £30, is currently freely available thanks to the purchase of a licence for open publication by the DRC (now the Equality and Human Rights Commission). But, given that it will be aimed at a specialised, professional, audience, the associated price tag is not expected to be a major issue. Additionally, more general, standard-related, materials may be freely available, (e.g. additional documentation or training).
The current aim is to publish the new standard within a year – possibly within the first quarter of 2009. Although the standard’s development will require collaboration and consultation, Julie Howell, chair elect of the new technical committee, is determined that to ensure that it be well-managed and does not suffer from the same kind of endless debate that has dogged publication of WCAG 2.0. She wants to see change – and quickly.
So it looks like we may all be living in interesting times soon…
Thanks so much for flagging this up. I’m chair elect of the IST/45 committee that will be drafting the British Standard on web accessibility and am really excited about the task before us.
Regarding WCAG 2.0, the BSi process is quite different so the timescale we’re working to will be different (though it is true that I do want to see change quickly!). It is our intention to produce the standard within 12 months (first quarter of 2009). The IST/45 committee will decide what the new standard will contain, but it is likely that we’ll actually produce a family of standards, and coverage of Web 2.0 and RIA issues will naturally be key.
Many thanks for mentioning this on your blog and for the opportunity to respond to it. I’ll be glad to keep you posted as the work progresses.
Julie Howell
Chair-Elect, IST/45
Director of Accessibility at Fortune Cookie
p.s. Please note the correct spelling of my name
Best regards
Julie Howell
Director of Accessibility, Fortune Cookie
- February 24, 2008 at 9:44 pm
New British Standard For Web Accessibility Announced - Accessites.org[...] of standards, and coverage of Web 2.0 and RIA issues will naturally be key…” — Julie Howell Chair elect of the IST/45 [...]
Sorry about that, Julie. Dutifully noted and corrected
Is this coming from tax money?
I’m amazed we haven’t created another quango to handle this, and three to do the work on its behalf…
Any how, with regards to “the associated price tag is not expected to be a major issue”, how much are we looking at, as I generally draw a line at paying to see a web standard, hence W3C is a paid membership that helps provide its information free of charge.
As I understand it, BSI is a self-funded commercial organisation in its own right, so, no, I don’t think that any funding from taxes will be involved.
No idea. But, like ISO accreditation, I expect the “price tag” referred to will be the cost of a given web site applying for certification. BSI will, I assume, carry out the necessary audit before granting certification, so consequently, will expect to be paid for it like any other commercial organisation would. However, it is hoped that additional documentation relating to the standard will be freely available, so presumable sites could use the new standard as a guideline to aim for without necessarily paying for full certification.
We also need to bear in mind that PAS 78 was not, and is not, free. BSI does charge for it. What has helped here was that the former Disability Rights Commission paid for a license to distribute the document freely. If significant costs are involved in obtaining documentation for the new standard, perhaps a similar arrangement might be forthcoming if it helps to promote the standard and might reasonably be seen to improve web accessibility generally?