Accessibility of Brazilian state government websites: a quantitative analysis between 1996 and 2007

Abstract

The use of the web to provide government information and services to citizens has become more and more significant. Ensuring that any citizen can access these contents and services is essential, regardless of disabilities or other barriers they may have. In Brazil, Executive Act no. 5.296/2004 ruled that all government agencies should adapt their websites according to accessibility guidelines until December 2005. In order to check the trend of accessibility over the years and the impact of such legislation, this article analyzes the accessibility of the Brazilian state government websites from 1996 to 2007. Analyses were carried out by means of metrics, obtained by evaluations with automatic tools. The results indicate that the legislation has had little impact on the accessibility of the sites, with an improvement in 2007. Thus, it indicates that it is necessary to adopt more effective public policies to guarantee that people with disabilities have insured their rights to access information and public services on the web.