Tara Concepts provide complete auditing services to ensure that your website validates against any of the WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) WAI Level A, AA, and AAA Guidelines. Furthermore we will also compile a usability assessment of your website, accessibility for search engines, and verify that coding standards are met.

AAT – Automatic Accessibility Testing
We will carry out an automated test on each page of your site to identify any features that do not satisfy certain WAI Accessibility Guidelines. The automated test is not a substitute for manual accessibility testing, but it can identify very quickly whether certain checkpoints have been satisfied. We will include the results of the automatic testing in the report.

MAT – Manual Accessibility Testing:
We will audit each page on your site your site against the WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 checkpoints. There are 16 checkpoints in Level A, a further 30 checkpoints in Level AA, and 19 additional checkpoints in Level AAA. A full list of checkpoints can be found on the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) website under checklist of checkpoints for web content accessibility guidelines.

Individual pages on your website will be manually assessed against each of these checkpoints, and any failure to comply with the guidelines will be reported together with recommendations on how the issue may be resolved.

UAT – Usability Assessment Testing:
We begin with a general usability assessment of the entire site. The usability assessment testing is carried out incorporating the following usability feature tests:

Website download time - How long does the content and navigation take to download on a standard dial-up connection?
Purpose Fit - Does the website clearly match intended audience?
Functionality - Can your visitors perform tasks easily?
Website Navigation - Is the system of navigation easily followed ? (most of your visitors will follow links to your website from search engines - they will not necessarily start from the homepage).
Link Validation - Are all links to other pages/websites working correctly?
Browser Testing - Will your website display correctly in the most common web browsers ? (We will test using Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 7.0, Mozilla Firefox 1.07 and Opera 8.54).

CVT – Code Validation Testing
We will validate each page of your website using the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) Validators and detail in our report any failures to meet relevant standards.

Can Tara Concepts make our website accessible?
Yes, we can. We do not need to have created your website in order to make it accessible. It does not matter that someone else designed your website, all that matters is that your website is online or you have an offline copy on CD-Rom. We can conduct a review of your website without obligation on your part and advise on the best course of action to take whilst minimising costs to your business.

Under current Irish legislation, every data controller is bound by the data protection responsibilities set out in the Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003. In addition, certain categories of data controller are required to register with the Data Protection Commissioner. Moreover, all data processors (who act in a business capacity) must also register with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.

The Acts set out the general principle that individuals should be in a position to control how data relating to them is used. "Data controllers" – people or organisations holding information about individuals on computer or in structured manual files – must comply with certain standards in handling personal data, and individuals have certain rights. "Data Processors" – people or organisations responsible for the processing of information about individuals on computer on behalf of others.

There is also the legal requirement for websites to have a Privacy Statement if your site does any of the following:

• Collects personal data (visitors filling in web forms, feedback forms, etc).
• Uses cookies or web beacons.
• Covertly collects personal data (IP addresses, e- mail addresses.)

Can Tara Concepts make our company compliant with the Data Protection Acts 1998 and 2003?
Yes we can. Tara Concepts are currently registered with the Data Protection Office as Data Processors (Reg: 8222/A) and are actively promoting compliance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 for our clients.

The legal compliance service we offer at present is as follows:

• Prepare and integrate a Privacy Statement page for your website.
• Determine necessity for your business to register as either Data Processor or Data Controller.
• Discuss and assist you with appropriate registration if necessary.
• Provide training to nominated individual within your company repsonsible for Data Compliance.
• Provide training for all staff members working with or exposed to confidential information.