Disabled internet users will benefit from new web accessibility standards currently being developed by the British Standards Institute (BSI).  

Following the success of their 2006 accessibility guidelines, BSI have gathered together a technical committee to oversee the development of a full standard.  It will lay British website owners open to legal action, should they fail to make their sites accessible to all.

A degree of consultation with affected user groups and industry will be essential to the process, yet the committee will aim to publish the standards early in 2009. 

This will not only affect old websites that have outdated code but also new sites incorporating modern technologies such as Flash, AJAX and Javascript. All non-accessible functionality must have accessible alternatives. 

Web accessibility is often compromised by functional and aesthetic considerations but we've always found a way of building sites that conform to w3c accessibility standards, even if that has meant more time and effort. Big offenders, like River Island, among others, will have to act quickly to avoid the risk of prosecution next year. 

Sources:  BSI PAS 78:2006, Computer Weekly, NMA