Accessibility Check: updated website – Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of India

We have noticed Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of India has re-designed their website and we took a quick look from accessibility prospective.

Compare to the earlier website, new website has a better look, more usable. However, considering department itself work in the area of people with disabilities, it’s important, their website must be fully accessible and set themselves as an example. Here is a list of a few accessibility issues that we have noticed. Please note that this is not a exhaustive report.

• Search button does not have an accessible name
• Alternate text for font resize icons is inappropriate
• Deprecated mark-up “marquee” has been used on the page
• Text alternative for department’s logo is inappropriate
• Navigation menus do not have visible focus indicator when they receive keyboard focus
• Navigation: Schemes appears and functions like a menu but marked up as a link
• Tenders / Procurements, RTI and Contact us elements are visually not available
• “What’s new” section has a scrolling content with no mechanism to pause / stop
• Under Latest tweets section, dummy text is placed
• Under Important links, active links do not have text alternatives
• Important links section uses a scrolling content with no mechanism to pause / stop.
• Visitor count informaiton is not read by screen reader
• Scroll to top link is not available in tab order
• Menu items are read twice by screen reader
• Who is Who page: Table – data cells do not have association with their header information.
• Organization Chart page: Contents of this page is not accessible to screen reader users. There is no text alternative to the chart

We have tested only a few pages. Overall, it’s a good beginning but it’s important that this website is fully accessible to set an example to other departments and organizations. Please spread the word.