Banking websites in India: an accessibility evaluation

Abstract

Accessibility refers to making websites usable for people of all types of abilities and disabilities, regardless of what browsing technology they are using. Since the web is an important resource of information for millions of people at all levels, accessible websites can help people with disabilities too to participate and contribute more actively in society. The objective of this study is to analyze the status of accessibility of banking websites as it allows people with disabilities to be independent and more in control of their own financial requirements. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are universally accepted guidelines for website accessibility evaluation. The automatic evaluation tool is used to evaluate the website accessibility based on WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0 guidelines. To further assess the reasons for accessibility barriers, complexity score was calculated. The accessibility score of different disability was also computed. The difference between the mean accessibility errors of public and private sector banks in India was also computed. The correlation of accessibility with the popularity and importance of the web sites was also evaluated. It was found that none of the websites that were evaluated were completely accessible to people with disabilities, i.e., there were no web sites that had no violations of web accessibility guidelines. There was no significant difference found in the accessibility of public and private sector banking websites in India. A framework to categorize the websites into fully accessible, partially accessible and inaccessible was also proposed.

Keeping with the Global Trends: An Evaluation of Accessibility and Usability of Nigerian Banks Websites

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