Invest to Save -

Carers Online

Project

Information

Standards

Version 4.1 - June 2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contents

Invest To Save – Carers Online Project Information Standards *

Introduction: *

The Standards: *

1. Website Information Provision *

1.1 Required information: *

1.2 Accessibility: *

1.3 Use of language: *

1.4 Metadata *

1.5 Discussion boards and chat rooms *

2. Partner Agency Policies and Procedures: *

3. Carer Involvement *

4. Monitoring Compliance: *

Appendices *

Appendix 1 – Conformance levels of W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines *

Appendix 2 – 10 Tips for making your website accessible *

Appendix 3 – Dublin Core Metadata Scheme *

Appendix 4 – Items for future review *

 

Invest To Save – Carers Online Project Information Standards

Introduction

Carers Online is a national web portal delivering information to carers. Local information is provided on the websites of local information providers. These sites are then linked into the national site. The Carers Online portal developed out of a partnership between Carers UK, Devon, Surrey and West Sussex County Council’s. These partners successfully applied for funding from the Government’s Invest to Save (ITS) budget to design and develop an Internet site especially for Carers.

This document sets out a series of guidelines to the successful inplementation of information for carers. They draw on national Government guidelines as described in The e-Government Interoperability Framework (EGIF) and The e-Government Metadata Standard (EGMS) both available from www.govetalk.gov.uk

Carers Online provides to carers and professionals working with carers:

The site seeks to deliver content to Desk Top PC’s, Laptops, Digital TV, Set Top Boxes, WAP Phones and Touch-screen Kiosks.

Durring the project carers were given access to various methods of surfing the Internet and undertaking an evaluation of the positive and negative aspects of each of these methods. The findings of this work are to be published by the University of Warwick and outcomes are also reported in "Lessons to be learnt by Government," as part of our agreement with Government on receipt of project funding.

For Further Information on the Invest to Save Carers Online project or any comments you may have please contact:

Ms. Rhiannon Price or Carol Hayman

Publications Officer Project Manger

Carers UK RM AG06, Social Services Directorate

20-25 glasshouse yard Devon County Council

London County Hall

EC1A 4JT Topsham Road

Exeter

Tel: 020 7566 7638 Devon, EX2 4QR

Fax: 020 7490 8824

e-mail: rhiannon@ukcarers.org Tel: 01392 383624

Fax: 01392 382363

e-mail: Chayman@devon.gov.uk

The Standards

The standards were drafted by the I2S - Carers Online project partners

and are intended to provide guidance for other organisations wishing to become involved in the Carer Online network.

We have developed these standards with the intention of providing guidance for web developments across multiple platforms and inline with EGMS the government metadata framework. Voluntary sector sites will increasingly have to implement e-government standards should they wish to link to UK online.

We undertake to review these standards annually.

The standards cover four areas designed to help ensure that provision of information on websites for carers will meet carer’s needs:

1. Website information provision - Minimum required information, navigability, accessibility etc.

2. Partner Agency Policies and Procedures – Defining what policies and procedures partner agencies should have in place to help ensure the currency and accuracy information on a website, feedback, complaints mechanisms etc. relating to information on the website.

3. Carer Involvement – Outlining steps agencies should take to involve carers in the development of the website.

4. Monitoring compliance – Outlining measures that may be taken to encourage partner agencies to make sure their websites meet the standards.

 

 

1. Website Information Provision

1.1 Required information:
      1. Information provided on partner sites must be accurate and kept up to date

        Because a user may be able to access a site at any point:

      2. Each page should have a link to an appropriate disclaimer
      3. Where appropriate, jurisdiction / coverage of information should be clear (– e.g. "This information applies to Scotland only" or "The information on this page applies only to residents of Devon County Council").
      4. On each page the currency of the information should be apparent – e.g. "This page was last checked on [date]" or "last updated on [date]"
      5. Full contact details of the organisation should be clearly indicated (e.g. by providing a link to full contact details on every page).
      6. Details of how to give feedback or make a complaint about the website or service should be clearly displayed, including contact details of the relevant responsible person.
      7. Relevant pages on the site must contain a link back to the main Carers Online site.
      8. On pages where the user is asked to submit personal details (email address etc.) there should be a link to privacy statement containing information about how these details will be used, and warning that information sent by email is not secure. Partner sites must have procedures in place to ensure that personal information collected will be stored accurately and securely and where relevant complies with the Data Protection Act.

 

 

1.2 Accessibility:

In order to provide equal access to web pages by people with disabilities and to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act:

      1. Sites should conform to EGIF accessibility guidelines. The Partner sites should pass the "Bobby Test" to priority level 1 (i.e. Conformance Level A of the World Wide Web consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Initiative Guidelines should be met). The Bobby Test is a tool which provides a simple method of checking whether a web page meets the W3C accessibility guidelines and guidance on how to rectify any problems.

The Bobby tool is avalable as web based and downloadable versions from the Centre for Applied Special Technology (CAST) at: www.cast.org/bobby (- see Appendix 1 for explanation of conformance levels and Appendix 2 for guidance on making a website accessible).

The W3C accessibility guidelines can be found at the W3C website: http://www.w3c.org/WAI.

Where it is not possible to make the main site accessible there should be the facility for users to access equivalent up to date information on a text only version of the main site.

1.2.2 Partners are encouraged to develop their sites to comply with Conformance Level "AA" or "AAA" in order to achieve a higher level of accessibility (-see Appendix 1 for an explanation of conformance levels).
      1. Web pages written in anything other than HTML may exclude some people from your site (e.g. visually impaired people, Web TV and WAP phone users). It is therefore important to offer alternatives for JavaScript, applets, Flash or plug-ins.

Wherever possible, information provided in non-HTML formats should also be provided in HTML format.

If pdf files are used on a site, where possible they should be created so that they are accessible to visually impaired people (e.g. by using the accessibility features of Adobe Acrobat 5). If this cannot be done, a link to Adobe’s online conversion tools at http://access.adobe.com/onlinetools.html should be provided. It is important to recognise however that pdf files cannot currently be viewed on platforms such as Web TV. The above suggestions for providing accessible pdf’s are therefore not a solution for users of platforms that don’t support Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

1.3 Use of language:
      1. Partners sites should adhere to best practice guidelines on the use of non-discriminatory language on their websites. Agencies should have procedures and guidance in place to help ensure use of non-discriminatory language.
      2. Partner sites should adhere to best practice guidelines around the use of plain English, jargon terms should be avoided and any acronyms explained.

 

1.4 Metadata

The vast amount of information available on the Internet can make finding relevant information very difficult. The use of metadata can help solve this problem. Metadata on a website provides a label giving details about the information on a web page and can assist users in finding the information they are looking for. Please refer to The e-Government Metadata Standard

 

      1. In order to assist users searching for information, Meta data should be present on all web pages. Metadata should conform to the Simple Dublin Core Metadata Scheme – a widely accepted international standard.
      2. All web pages should have title, subject, creator, description, category, subject and date metadata elements as a minimum. Use of the remaining Dublin Core elements is encouraged.

Mandatory and recommended elements

Mandatory elements:

Creator

Date

Subject.

Category

Title

Mandatory if applicable:

Accessibility

Identifier

Publisher

Recommended:

Coverage

Language

Dublin Core metadata can be used alongside existing HTML Meta tags.

An example of metadata conforming to the Dublin Core scheme, the full set of Dublin Core elements, and links to tools for automatically generating metadata are given at Appendix 3.

More information about Dublin Core can be found at www.dublincore.org/.

1.5 Discussion boards and chat rooms

1.5.1 Where partner sites offer discussion boards or chat rooms these should include a link to an appropriate acceptable use policy. Partner sites are strongly encouraged to moderate discussion boards and chat rooms to ensure that terms of use are adhered to. It may be particularly important to monitor chat rooms used by vulnerable children and young people to provide and extra degree of safety.

 

 

2. Partner Agency Policies and Procedures:

Partner agencies should have written policy and procedures in place to ensure the following:

    1. That a named person is responsible for the website or particular relevant areas of the website.
    2. That a named person is responsible for dealing with feedback and complaints about the website and / or services provided through the website.
    3. That there is adequate quality control of information before it is published, including ensuring that information on the agency’s website:
    1. That carers are involved in website development to ensure continued relevance of the site to carers.
    2. The logo designed by the Invest to Save partners should be used as a brand logo as opposed to the overall project logo
      This brand logo would be used on all linked sites
      e.g.
      Surrey would thus call their site Carersnet and then the brand logo will also appear on their pages indicating that their site is linked to the national Carers Online Project

      The national site homepage will display both Carers UK "Carers Online" and I2S Carers Online logos
      Other organisations that join us and have linked sites will display the brand logo to indicate their inclusion

      Sites that displaying this brand logo are indicating intent to adhere to these standards

      Each display of this brand logo will be linked to a web page giving details about the Carers Online Project and these standards at       http://www.carersnet.org.uk/standards/standards.html

      The brand logo can be used on all leaflets, letterheads etc for the Invest to Save project

       

    3. Feedback should be dealt with within seven (7) working days. Wherever possible an initial response email should be automatically be generated to acknowledge receipt of the feedback.
    4. Care should be taken to ensure that there is a clear demarcation between any commercial sponsors or e-commerce concessions. A disclaimer of partiality should be displayed in association with pages.
    5. The security of any linked commercial vendor sites should be examined.

 

3. Carer Involvement

Carer Involvement is strongly encouraged as it was pivotal to the development of the test sites. In this section should be taken to mean involvement and / or consultation.
    1. Carers should be actively involved in the initial and ongoing web development process to ensure I2S continuing relevance to carers.
    2. Partner agencies will be expected to actively seek the involvement of carers from a range of backgrounds in the process and have procedures for doing so.
    3. Carers should be given all reasonable support needed to stay involved in the website development.
    1. Carers who are involved in website development will, if required, be given adequate training in order to help them and ultimately the website project to be effective. If no in house training is available the partner agency should consider employing external trainers to deliver the training and these costs should be met by the agency.

3.3 Where carers have shown an interest in giving their time and services to the website development e.g. keeping the site updated, appropriate software, hardware, facilities etc. should be provided by the partner agency for the carer if required.

    1. Carers who take part in such projects should be reimbursed out of pocket expenses and other payments (e.g. respite) should be considered.
    2. Carers involved with the website developments, attending related meetings etc. should be made to feel welcome. Within meetings Carers should be encouraged to ask for explanations of any professional or jargon terms they feel unsure of.
    3. It is important that fairness and equality of opportunity are provided to the Carers who take part in website projects. Carers and professionals working within such projects should recognise that everyone is different and that these differences must be equally respected.

 

 

4. Monitoring Compliance:

    1. Partner agencies are strongly encouraged to adhere to these standards.
      It is recognised that conforming to the visual accessibility standards in particular may be more difficult to achieve on sites built for and run by Young Carers. Where it is not possible or appropriate for the young carers' site to conform to visual accessibility standards the provision of text only site with equivalent information should be considered.
    2. The I2S project reserves the right to audit sites and organisational procedures for appropriateness before linking to them from the main CarersUK site. Sites may also be re-audited periodically to ensure they are of an appropriate standard.
    3. Where sites are being newly developed or redeveloped we would strongly recommend that this be done in line with the above standards.
    4. In general it is expected that larger organisations (e.g. Local Authorities) will conform to the standards from the outset. Smaller agencies with fewer resources will be given the flexibility to apply the standards within 12 months of being included as a partner site.

 

 

Appendices

Appendix 1 – Conformance levels of W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has developed a set of priorities and conformance levels based on a checkpoint's impact on accessibility.

Priority 1 (Conformance Level A)

A Web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents. To meet Conformance Level A, priority 1 checkpoints must be satisfied.

Priority 2 (Conformance Level AA)

A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents. To meet conformance Level AA, priority 1 and 2 checkpoints must be statisfied.

Priority 3 (Conformance Level AAA)

A Web content developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents. To meet conformance level AAA all priority 1,2, and 3 checkpoints must be satisfied.

 

 

Information about the Web Content Accessibility Initiative (WAI) can be found at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) website : www.w3.org/WAI/. The site also provides resources including more details of the checkpoints for the different priority levels, techniques and guidance for making websites accessible.

The WAI Guidelines can be found at: www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT

 

 

 

 

Appendix 2 – 10 Tips for making your website accessible

 

1. Make sure the text is legible – Contrast is the most important factor to consider. Use text and background colour combinations that offer maximum contrast.
  1. Use a flexible design – so that users can change the colours and size of the text by adjusting browser settings
  2. Use "alt-text" on all images – the alternative text attribute of the image tag provides a description of the image for people accessing the site using speech synthesis software
  3. Provide a site map – to help visitors get an impression of the site quickly so they will find it easier to navigate
  4. Make sure links make sense out of context – for people relying on speech synthesis software to "hear" websites. The software provides a list of links on a page as a means of getting a "flavour" of the content. If a link contains only the words "click here", I2S function will not be obvious if it is presented out of context. For example if linking to a copy of your annual report, rather than having the words "click here" as a hyperlink it would be more useful to make the words "annual report" into a hyperlink.
  5. Ensure all image maps are accompanied by text links – some software used by blind people cannot read image maps so it is important to use text links as well.
  6. Use titles for frames / use the "noframes" tag – some blind people may be using software that cannot read frames. It is vital that the NOFRAMES tag is used to offer these people alternative frames-free versions of your pages.
  7. Offer alternatives for JavaScript, applets, Flash or plug-ins – if pages are written in anything other than HTML some people may be excluded from your site

     

  8. Offer Access Adobe for PDF files – PDF files created with versions of Adobe Acrobat earlier than version 5 are not compatible with the access software used by many blind people. The company have made "Access Adobe" available for these users of earlier versions. It transforms PDF files into HTML and is available from http://access.adobe.com. Adobe Acrobat 5, and the Acrobat files it produces, addresses many of these problems and should make Access Adobe unnecessary in future. However, it has only launched recently. Many users will still have earlier versions of Acrobat Reader, and many existing PDF files have been produced by earlier versions of Acrobat. To benefit from the advantages of files created using Acrobat 5, users will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 which can be downloaded free from Adobe’s website www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html

10.Ensure all pages pass the "Bobby Test" – The Centre for Applied

Special Technology (CAST) has created an automated accessibility checker, named "Bobby". Bobby checks and reports on accessibility problems including checking that all graphic elements have text equivalents, and that written summaries have been provided for graphs and statistical materials.

 

 

Appendix 3 – Dublin Core Metadata Scheme

 

Element Name

Definition

Title (required) A name given to the web page.
Subject (required) The topic of the content of the web page.
Description (required) An explanation of the web page content. It is more detailed than that given by "Subject" alone. It might be in the form of an abstract, table of contents or free-text narrative.
Author The name of the person or organisation responsible for the creation of the content of the web page.
Publisher The person or organisation responsible for making the web page available.
Contributor The name of a person or organisation responsible for a major contribution to the creation of the content of the web page.
Date.Created
Date.Modified 		A date associated with a particular event in the life cycle of the web page i.e. the date on which it was first created and the date on which it was last modified.
Resource Type The nature of the primary content of the web page. Typically this will be either text or image.
Format The physical or digital characteristics of the web page. Typically this will be "HTML".
Resource Identifier A unique identifier for the web page. Typically, this will be the URL e.g. www.carersonline.org.uk.
Source A reference to a resource from which the web page is wholly or partly derived. For example, this may be another web page or a book.
Language A language in which the content of the web page is written.

 

 

Element Name

Definition

Relation A reference to a resource with which the resource is associated.
Coverage The geographical scope of the content of the web page. Typically this will be at the level of a country.
Rights Management Details of any rights held in or on the web page. These may include Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights.

 

 

 

 

An example using the required elements:

<META NAME="DC.Title" LANG="en" CONTENT="BenefI2S for Carers"/>

<META NAME="DC.Subject" LANG="en" CONTENT="ica, invalid care allowance, social security, carers allowance, disability benefits, carers premium, carer premium, income support, pension,"/>

<META NAME="DC.Description" LANG="en" CONTENT="Information about benefI2S you may be able to claim if you are a carer."/>

 

 

 

 

Tools for generating required Dublin Core metadata include:

"Reggie" - available from www.metadata.net/dstc/

Nordic DC metadata generator: www.lub.lu.se/cgi-bin/nmdc.pl

 

 

Appendix 4 – Items for future review

The Invest To Save - Carers Online Project partners undertake to review these Standards in light of the following: