[Irl-dean] EIQA's Global Website Certification - the W-Mark?

[Matthew Ovington]

Hi everyone

We often get asked about the W-Mark because we get asked to conduct 
accessibility audits. I can't really vouch for their methodologies or their 
level of knowledge, but the FSAI were a customer of ours and I believe that 
they chose to go for the W-Mark as an external recognition or certification. 
However, that said, we know of plenty of organisations who don't bother with 
it. Their main area of activity is assessing  sites for their level of 
accessibility and generating a report, but as part of a general web 
certification.

On another note, and as we were involve with the FSAI project I have to 
defend them! I'm curious about the search box issue you've flagged. You are 
correct, a JavaScript will clear the search box when the focus is on the 
edit box. If JavaScript is not present, or deactivated, the text remains 
(and this is a WAI Priority 3 checkpoint - 
http://accessit.nda.ie/guideline_1_101.html). Depending on who you talk to, 
some people seem to believe that placeholding characters are the devils 
work, and others say that they are absoluty necessary.

The use of graphics for the blue navigation bar was a "must have"for 
aesthetic reasons (!). sometimes you have to give a customer what they want, 
and I know that we should have stamped our feet a bit more about it. But a 
customer is a customer...we can't strom off in a sulk if a customer really 
doesn't want something changed.

Regarding the HTML not being valid, I know...I know...it was in 2001/2002...

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Magennis" <mark.magennis at ncbi.ie>
To: <irl-dean at list.eeng.dcu.ie>
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 9:51 AM
Subject: RE: [Irl-dean] EIQA's Global Website Certification - the W-Mark?


> Also, the EIQA URL you referenced is not valid HTML either.
> Hmmmm.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie
>> [mailto:irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie] On Behalf Of Mark Magennis
>> Sent: 01 July 2005 09:47
>> To: irl-dean at list.eeng.dcu.ie
>> Subject: RE: [Irl-dean] EIQA's Global Website Certification -
>> the W-Mark?
>>
>>
>> Just out of interest, I looked at the Food Safety Authority's
>> website to
>> see how accessible it is. A quick glance reveals that there has
>> obviously been effort put into accessibility but there are at
>> least some
>> slip-ups: The HTML is not valid, the top navigation links are
>> very small
>> and don't resize, the Search field is likely to cause problems if
>> JavaScript isn't active. I wonder what their accessibility
>> criteria are
>> and how they police compliance after the date of the award.
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie
>> > [mailto:irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie] On Behalf Of Mark Magennis
>> > Sent: 01 July 2005 09:34
>> > To: irl-dean at list.eeng.dcu.ie
>> > Subject: RE: [Irl-dean] EIQA's Global Website Certification -
>> > the W-Mark?
>> >
>> >
>> > The EIQA website has the following press release from November 2004:
>> > http://www.eiqa.com/news/index_det.asp?id=6
>> > Eagle Star, Friends First, Food Safety Authority, HP,
>> IrishJobs, Rehab
>> > all completed the pilot programme.
>> >
>> > Mark
>> >
>> > > -----Original Message-----
>> > > From: irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie
>> > > [mailto:irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie] On Behalf Of
>> Barry McMullin
>> > > Sent: 01 July 2005 09:04
>> > > To: Irl-dean (E-mail)
>> > > Subject: [Irl-dean] EIQA's Global Website Certification -
>> > the W-Mark?
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Hi Folks -
>> > >
>> > > I was just pointed at this URL:
>> > >
>> > http://www.eiqa.com/products/wmark/index.asp
>> >
>> > which is promoting the following:
>> >
>> >   EIQA's Global Website Certification the W-Mark offers you the
>> >   ability to have your company website(s) independently evaluated
>> >   and audited to globally recognised standards. [...] The W-Mark
>> >   has been launched successfully in Ireland, UK, USA, and
>> >   Australia to date and will continue to be rolled out across all
>> >   English speaking countries throughout the year.
>> >
>> > Accessibility is apparently one (of six) "key criteria" which are
>> > evaluated for this certification.
>> >
>> > Have any of you come across this or know any more background - or
>> > even any organisations in Ireland that may have adopted it?
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > - Barry.
>> >
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>> >
>> >
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