Web Access for All: Standards, Tools, Legislation

In recent years Web content has become even more multimedial, offering blogs, movies, wikis, social networks, collaborative games and more. Users have also changed from consumers to producers of information. However, accessibility of Web systems and content has not progressed at the same pace, and differently-abled persons risk being cut off from the network. Industrialized countries have attempted to address this problem with legal directives and laws to make content regarding public services, applications and data accessible for all. However, this approach has been insufficient for fueling large-scale Web accessibility. In this paper we briefly introduce the accessibility problem and describe the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0. Next, European Communications regarding accessibility of public websites and services, as well as specific Italian legislation are illustrated, discussing legal and technical requirements from a critical point of view.