Web Content Accessibility Evaluation of Government Websites in India

ABSTRACT

The primary goal of e-government is to provide citizens with a wider range of general instructions, forms, and various services efficiently and effectively. Many governments deliver their information and services to their users worldwide through websites. So, it is the prime responsibility of all governments to make it possible that various websites should be easily accessible to each and every individual irrespective of the individual with multiple disabilities. Websites accessibility has been analysed with a variety of tools using W3C guidelines. This evaluation study presents the accessibility evaluation of government administrative department websites based on the guidelines WCAG2.1 standard with a sample size of 24 sites of different official ministries belonging to the Indian state of Punjab. It was discovered that most e-government sites do not conform with the WCAG2.1 minimal Level A. Furthermore, we have identified frequently violated guidelines and observed that some websites require the inclusion of accessibility component features. In this paper, we also suggest a set of valuable suggestions for improving the accessibility so that services provided by e-government websites shall meet their respected audience. Our findings suggest that to achieve universal accessibility, website managers, designers, and developers of these sites must pay proper attention to various accessibility features so that these websites are accessible to all users without any barriers.

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