Thurrock Council
The client
Thurrock Council covers an area of 165 sq km in the south-east
of England and has a local population of around 145,000,
which includes a broad social and ethnic mix.
The website of the council has become an important source
for people seeking information on a range of issues from
education, taxation to news and entertainment. It receives
around 61,204 individual visitors per month.
The project
The council's e-Government team were acutely aware of
the need to ensure that the website was complying with
best practice on usability and especially accessibility
for people with disabilities. This was recognised as both
an ethical and a legal responsibility (under the Disability
Discrimination Act 1995).
Imetrix conducted an in-depth evaluation of the website
to assess the experience of visually impaired people who
use screen reader (text to audio) software and inolved
several disabled users in the process.
Imetrix also conducted a rigorous examination of the
website's content features and source code to highlight
where it was not complying with the W3C Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines.
A detailed report was presented to the client which included
a checklist for actionable points that would result in
greatly enhanced accessibility.
The website is now fully compliant with all requirements
and carries the RNIB's See it Right award.
The feedback
"I am pleased with the results and validity of the findings.
We shall be addressing the issues raised by the degree
of relevance suggested. Thank you for your good services."
- Principal Business Analyst, e-Government Services,
Thurrock Council
