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RSS feedsOnly one of the UK's leading banks has a web site that adheres to accessibility standards, research shows.
While NatWest's site outperformed its competitors, according to the quarterly eNation report on web sites from national computing and disability charity AbilityNet, it still only reached a minimum standard.
NatWest managed to obtain a three star rating on a five star scale, relating to its ability to provide access for users with a vision impairment, dyslexia or those with a physical disability making it difficult to use a mouse.
Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Smile, Egg, If, and First Direct obtained two stars, and HSBC, Halifax and Cahoot, managed just one star, meaning they are 'very inaccessible'.
AbilityNet says the results are better than those achieved by airlines and newspapers, but point out that only one in 10 reach a minimum standard.
'Banks have realised quicker than other service providers perhaps, that the end user is looking for critical functionality - to check their account and make transactions - rather than to be impressed and entertained by ingenious design and creativity,' said Robin Christopherson, AbilityNet's web consultancy manager.
Christopherson says pictures used as links instead of text are one of the biggest problems because spoken descriptions are often absent.
- Ability magazine re-launches this month. Published for the British Computer Society's Disability Group, Ability is a campaigning publication for people who have difficulty using IT.
See also:
Less than a quarter of corporate websites comply with W3C regulations 01 Oct 2004
Online stores failing users with disabilities, says AbilityNet 29 Jun 2004All IT Careers and skills
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