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For version 2 go to: Section 5: Usability, Accessibility, and General Design

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Contents 1 5. USABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY, LANGUAGE, AND DESIGN 1.1 5.1 Usability 1.2 5.2 Accessibility standards 1.3 5.3 Languages 1.4 5.4 General design elements

5. USABILITY, ACCESSIBILITY, LANGUAGE, AND DESIGN

      [JCG: Added ‘Language’ to title]

5.1 Usability

User testing and other usability methods employed to ensure that the design and use of the website is understandable by its intended audiences at its initial launch and whenever major changes are made

     [JCG: Combined previous ‘A’ and ‘B’ into single paragraph]

5.2 Accessibility standards

W3C standards or other applicable standards implemented to ensure that the website can be used by those with disabilities

5.3 Languages

A. For countries with two or more official languages, or languages used by large percentages of the citizens, every feasible effort is made to have the entire contents of the parliamentary website available in these languages.

     [JCG: Added reference to “languages used by large percentages of the citizens”. See comment by MA on this in version 2]

B. If only a partial version can be made available in other languages of the country, focus is on permanent information such as how parliament works, how to contact members, etc; a summary of current parliamentary activities is provided on a periodic basis

C. A complete or partial version of the site is provided in one of the languages commonly used for international communication

    [JCG: Dropped “English” and added “commonly used”]   

    [JCG: Extensive adjustments made to incorporate comments and concerns]

5.4 General design elements

A. The following design elements available to users:
1) Frequently Asked Questions
2) What’s new on the website
3) Site map
4) About this website (who owns it, manages it, update policy, etc.)
5) Help function
6) Whom to contact for questions about the operation of the website
7) Guidance on how to search

    [JCG: Clarified language; added items 6 and 7]

B. Support for multiple browsers and assurance of a reasonable level of backward compatibility of new features and content that does not interfere with needed innovation
[RC: I am not sure whether this adequately covers the desirability of not changing urls, or using some scheme of 'persistent' urls - I am not sure of the technical possibilities - so that external sites' links to parliamentary sites are not littered with broken links. More generally, should the guidelines say something like 'should provide the necessary level of structure and metadata to enable quick and efficient searching and to meet end users' needs for both current and historcial information]      

C. Design elements and choices derived from a comprehensive vision and understanding of different tasks, different requirements, and different user profiles.

    [JCG: Moved previous items on XML supporting and downloading of files to Section 6]