The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative has published a working draft of Web Accessibility for Older Users: A Literature Review:
There has been extensive development and adoption of the WAI guidelines for Web accessibility for people with disabilities. However, while these guidelines address many of the requirements needed by the ageing population, the relevance of the WAI guidelines to the needs of older people with functional disabilities caused by ageing does not seem to be well understood.
This review examines the literature relating to the use of the Web by older people to primarily look for intersections and differences between the WAI guidelines and recommendations for web design and development issues that will improve the accessibility and usability for older people. It is intended that the review will:
- better inform the ongoing work of W3C/WAI with regard to the needs of older computer users and their web accessibility related needs
- inform the development of potential extensions on WAI guidelines and techniques and/or provide direct input into future versions of WAI guidelines
- lead to the development of educational resources focussed towards industry implementers, and organisations representing and serving ageing communities
- help foster dialog between ageing communities, disability communities, industry, and other interested parties around issues of web accessibility
- inform the contributions that W3C makes into the standards development processes in Europe and internationally.
