Accessibility guide for the design and implementation of websites according to the NTC 5854 standard

Abstract

Currently, web accessibility has gained importance because it provides mechanisms for people with different functional diversities to have the possibility of using the web under equal conditions as the rest of the people, and because it provides added benefits, like visualization of the site in different devices or better positioning in the results of web searches. At legislative level in Colombia, the norm in charge of introducing a set of guidelines for the design and implementation of accessible websites is the NTC 5854 standard. In spite of the potential advantages of the norm, its guide-lines are presented briefly, which could generate ambiguities in interpretation by developers. This article introduces an accessibility guide for the design and construction of websites stemming from the NTC 5854 standard. The objective of the guide is to provide accompaniment to software developers and designers regarding the implementation process of accessible web portals for which the guide proposed addresses and adapts in detail each of the guidelines that make up the four principles of accessibility [Perceivable, operable, Understandable, and robust] of the NTC 5854 standard. The guide proposed also intends to serve as reference for software companies around the globe that wish to involve in their software products the characteristics and advantages of accessibility.