Accessibility compliance rates of consumer-oriented Canadian health care Web sites
Accessibility compliance rates of consumer-oriented Canadian health care Web sites
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DOI：
10.1080/14639230500367746
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发表时间：
2005-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
O'Grady, L
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
O'Grady, L
万维网上随处可见大量基于消费者的医疗保健信息。然而，对于一些人来说，由于依赖专门的计算机设备或称为辅助技术的软件，这些材料是无法获取的。这些工具是为有感觉、身体或学习障碍的人设计的，充当了以可访问的方式解释网页的中间工具。不幸的是，许多网站，包括那些与健康相关的内容，都不是为适应这种设备而设计的。目前还没有关于加拿大以消费者为导向的医疗保健网站中这一问题严重程度的研究发表。这项研究的目的是调查加拿大起源的可访问的基于消费者的医疗保健网站的百分比。随机抽样了一份此类网站的清单，以纳入研究。使用验证软件Bobby(TM)，根据万维网联盟(W3C)网络可访问性倡议(WAI)网络内容可访问性指南(WCAG)1.0对每一项可访问性进行评估。结果表明，在所调查的页面中，只有大约40%没有符合WCAG 1.0优先级1的错误。网站的建设应符合这些标准，以更好地适应那些使用辅助设备的人。
Vast amounts of consumer-based health care information are widely available on the World Wide Web. However, for some this material is inaccessible due to reliance on specialized computer equipment or software known as assistive technology. These tools, designed for people with sensory, physical, or learning disabilities, act as a median to interpret Web pages in accessible ways. Unfortunately, many websites, including those with health-related content are not designed to accommodate this equipment. No research has yet been published examining the extent of this problem in Canadian consumer-oriented health care sites. The purpose of this study was to investigate the percentage of accessible consumer-based health care websites of Canadian origin. A listing of such sites was randomly sampled for study inclusion. Each was assessed for accessibility based on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 using the validation software Bobby (TM). The results indicated that only about 40% of pages investigated were free of errors in accordance with WCAG 1.0 Priority 1 level. Websites should be constructed in compliance with these standards to better accommodate those using assistive devices.