DIAL UK News - Dial UK receives Visionary Design Award for www.dialuk.org.uk

DIAL UK receives Visionary Design Award for www.DIALuk.org.uk

Publication date: 06/12/2002

DIAL UK, on the 5th December was presented with a Visionary Design Award for their outstanding efforts in ensuring their website is accessible to visually impaired people. The Awards were presented at The Lowry, hosted by broadcaster, businessman and author Martyn Lewis, CBE, and sponsored by Barclays.

The Awards are part of an ongoing campaign by the National Library for the Blind (NLB) to encourage website publishers and designers to consider access technology such as magnification, text to speech and refreshable Braille when they are designing their sites.

‘NLB estimates that less than a third of websites are accessible to visually impaired people, making the winners of these Awards truly revolutionary in what they have achieved,' said Helen Brazier, NLB’s Chief Executive.

DIAL UK’s website is not merely accessible to visually impaired people but to users with a wide range of disabilities. DIAL UK has followed the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Accessibility Initiative (WAI) accessibility guidelines to Priority level 3, working in consultation with Poptel. RNIB and many other experts in the accessibility field together with their own independent research. There is also a configurable text only version of the site using the BBC's 'Betsie' software to act as an alternate means of accessing the web site.

DIAL UK is one of the most advanced priority Level 3 websites and was built by Poptel. DIAL UK would like to personally thank the following for their invaluable advice and guidance: the RNIB, in particular Donna Smillie, RNIB Best Practice Officer, for her excellent advice and encouragement. Gregory J. Rosmaita, WebMaster & Minister of Propaganda, VICUG NYC (The Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group of New York City) The BBC for providing BETSIE as free open source software.

DIAL UK was 1 of 6 winners, chosen from a short-list of 21 sites.

The other 5 winners were:

Guardian Unlimited
www.guardian.co.uk

The British Museum Compass
www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass

whichbook.net
www.whichbook.net

Local Heritage Initiative
www.lhi.org.uk

National Maritime Museum
www.nmm.ac.uk

Each winner received a specially commissioned glass award and a certificate in both print and Braille. Runners-up received certificates of commendation.

Editors Note

For further information on DIAL UK’s website please contact Peter Dolan, Web Development Worker at DIAL UK, St Catherine’s, Tickhill Road, Doncaster, DN4 8QN Tel: 01302 310123 or email: informationenquiries@dialuk.org.uk