Today in our Web Accessibility interview section we met with Jorge Vicente Ruiz to “Look into the future of Web Accessibility.”
From a young age his vocation towards technology, marketing and web portals was clear. Technical Engineer in Management Information Technology, he also studied a Second Degree in Research and Market Techniques.
It was at the time of studying the Master in Business Management, specifically at the time of completing the Master’s Thesis, when he decided to focus on the usability of users in virtual environments and electronic commerce and become passionate about this world of information and communication.
How was ‘your accessible website’ born?
There was a project that we carried out, which was the development of the Almería City Council web portal. After a few weeks, once the portal was published, the Accessibility Observatory told us that we should improve accessibility.
At that time, we did not know the figure of the Accessibility Observatory, nor what criteria made a website accessible, so we began to do a little research and “soak ourselves” in this topic and apply that knowledge to the portal.
As time went by, we realized that both in public administration tenders and in private companies they began to use the term “accessibility” but in reality, it was not fully implemented.
We realized that public institutions were not respecting these regulations and were not making accessible web portals or apps.
The objective was not only to implement it in the new websites that we created but to modify the ones that had already been created. This is how the ‘Your Accessible Web‘ project was born, from the need established by the Royal Decree and for private companies to offer the opportunity to reach other types of users who under normal circumstances do not consider reaching out, such as blind people or people with a cognitive disability.
If you had to highlight a problem, within this field of accessibility, what would it be and why?
Right now there are two problems. The first is commitment.
Public institutions are not committed to making their web portals accessible because they often understand that accessible websites are not attractive. Nothing further, by the way. An accessible website is going to be much more usable than an inaccessible website. Furthermore, we improve not only its usability but also its search engine positioning.
The second problem we encounter is understanding the concept of an accessible website.
We have had many clients tell us that they want an accessible website with a plugin or an automatic tool that does all the work.
That doesn’t make your website accessible, mind you. What is often difficult for users to understand is that a visually impaired user does not use the same tools as us. They can use other browsers and even other devices. Make the company understand that this need is a handicap that we have and that it is difficult for us to convey and that they understand what an accessible website as such is.
Why has the improvement of accessibility in all public administration web portals become fundamental?
Due to the ethics of the public institution, which must offer its services to all citizens, with or without different abilities. And then, as we say, by a Royal Decree that indicates that all websites and applications must be accessible.
This has been imposed since 2018 and, in addition, it requires you to do a web accessibility audit every year and correct those errors on the web.
And what happens with private web portals?
It’s a lot happening to us that we have two types of private clients.
On the one hand, non-profit organizations. They are web portals of NGOs or solidarity or support institutions, which are more aware that their portals must be accessible.
And then on the other hand we have business clients, almost always large, that are looking for a commercial strategy.
They know that if their website is accessible they can reach a greater number of people. We are talking about transport, tourism, electrical companies…
These types of companies are the ones that today are worrying about improving their accessibility because they know that they will reach a significant mass of users that, today, few companies try to target.
When do you think you could achieve a high percentage of fully accessible websites?
I think this, like everything, in the end are trends. At first they seem like fads, but then they become established as something obligatory.
In Spain, as we know, we always tend to be a little behind in the technological sense compared to other countries like the United States.
I am convinced that there will come a time when it is not said ‘I want an accessible website’ but rather that I want a website, which already implies the fact that it is accessible.
In a few years we will not be talking about accessible portals but rather about web portals with this service already implemented. An evolution in the development of web portals and apps at the same level as 5 years ago when it was said, ‘I want a responsive website’, and today, we would never consider developing a website that was not responsive.
