World's leading websites failing the disabled

Only three per cent of the world's leading websites meet the needs of disabled web users, according to the UN.

Out of 100 sites tested in a UN commissioned study, only three met the minimum accessibility level: the UK Prime Minister's site and those of the German Chancellor and Spanish government. Central government, retail and banking were generally the stronger performers.

The study tested websites from 20 countries - including China, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US - and scrutinised the site of each country's head of state and leading airline, bank, newspaper and retailer.

One of the areas in which websites are falling down is a lack of text descriptions for images, evident in 93 per cent of sites. This causes problems for the visually impaired who often need to 'read' pictures as they have trouble seeing them.

In addition, 73 per cent of the sites rely on JavaScript for core functionality in a way that limits the ease of use for people with limited motor skills or visual impairment. This could include a lack of compatibility with screen readers or menus that are difficult to navigate.

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Simon Norris, managing director of accessibility agency Nomensa, which carried out the research, said in a statement: "With online information linking people increasingly together, it is vital that sections of the global population are not alienated and left out as innovation continues apace."

Other problems the survey identified are poorly contrasting colours, lack of ability to resize pages, poor layout and pop-up windows that could easily disorientate users. Ninety-eight per cent of sites also failed to meet industry web standards for the underlying source code.

The sites were judged against a criteria set out by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1999 with its Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.