Segala News & Events - Press Releases

E-consultancy Demonstrates Commitment to Web Accessibility

Released: November 2nd, 2006

Portal for online industry displays Segala-Certified™ Trustmark for Accessibility Compliance and is awarded a Certificate to show its levels of independently verified W3C WCAG conformance.

London, England, 2nd November 2006 - Segala announced today that the E-consultancy Web site has been awarded the Segala-Certified Trustmark to help the online portal demonstrate its ongoing commitment to Web accessibility. The Trustmark allows E-consultancy to clearly demonstrate to all its users that the site has now been independently audited and certified for conformance. The highly regarded Web site, recently awarded Online Business Publisher of the Year at the UK AOP Awards, has been audited by Segala for compliance with the W3C WCAG guidelines and awarded a certificate that details the specific conformance levels.

The Trustmark on the site links to E-consultancy's secure certificate, allowing anybody to view a full list of compliance checkpoints for the site in one easy click. The Trustmark is also machine-readable, meaning the site can be filtered and highlighted in compatible browsers and search engines, making the site more likely to be found and used by users with accessibility needs.

Ashley Friedlein, CEO of E-consultancy says "Our accessibility requirements are quite specific so we need a partner that can help us make sure we deliver them. Segala's approach allows us to be certified immediately on any page, and to any set of checkpoints. We want to comply with some specific checkpoints without the need to conform to any particular standard W3C priority level so this was a crucial factor. It enables us to have the site independently audited and certified to our exact needs. The Segala Trustmark on the site is important as it allows us to say to our users, and the industry, that we take accessibility seriously and are prepared to show it."

"E-consultancy have taken a bold step forward to promote accessibility, not just by talking about it, but by demonstrating it. Their use of the Trustmark and Certificate makes it clear to everybody that they are prepared to be accountable for the accessibility of their site. They are showing the industry that it is possible demonstrate a commitment to accessibility without having to change an entire site in one go." says Paul Walsh, CEO of Segala.

Access the E-consultancy Web site at: http://www.e-consultancy.com

Note to editors

About Segala

Segala is an independent specialist in Web accessibility and mobile testing and certification services. Web site owners demonstrate their commitment and conformance to accessibility standards and legislation by displaying the Segala Trustmark on their site.

As an Associate member of the W3C, Segala participates in the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and is a Founding Sponsor of the Mobile Web Initiative (MWI).

Segala is also a sponsor member of the W3C Content Label Incubator Group (XG-CL), a worldwide initiative to develop content labelling standards for the Web.

Segala is the first testing and compliance specialist worldwide to become an associate member of the GSMA. Segala has global headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and an office in the UK. For further information visit www.segala.com.

About the Segala-Certified™ Trustmark

The Segala-Certified™ Trustmark is a visual logo that allows Web site owners to clearly show that their site has been independently audited and certified for Accessibility compliance. It gives a clear visual assurance that their site complies with industry standards and legislation and links to a certificate that demonstrates the levels of conformance.

The Trustmark is unique in being machine-readable and can therefore be detected by compatible search engines and browsers. This allows filtered searches on accessible sites, helping to ensure that users can find sites which claim to be accessible. O2 is the first major organization worldwide to adopt the Segala trustmark as standard throughout its online content.

For Further Information, please visit:

• Segala - www.segala.com
• The O2 Corporate Responsibility Report online
• W3C WCAG Guidelines - www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php

Contact:

Andrew Gerrard
Segala UK
Mobile: +44 (0) 7771 678605
Email: andrew [at] segala [dot] com
Web : www.segala.com

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