Survey Reveals 99 Percent of America's Best Hospitals Need to Improve Compliance with Web Standards

Business Wire, Sept 26, 2006

Compliant Websites Provide Accessibility for Disabled and

Improve Search Rankings

ATLANTA -- Hannon Hill Corporation, makers of web content management solutions, today announced survey results revealing 99 percent of America's Best Hospitals ranked by US News & World Report are not compliant with HTML/XHTML web standards recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The key benefits to maintaining a W3C standards-compliant website include having better accessibility for a wide range of disabled users and improved search engine rankings.

"By hospitals improving their websites to meet W3C standards, they take the same approach to making a website accessible as they would to making physical walkways and structures accessible to persons with disabilities," said David Cummings, founder and CEO, Hannon Hill Corporation. "To understand how these guidelines aid accessibility, it's important to understand how individuals with disabilities might interact with the web."

For example, people with little or no sight must rely on electronic readers to read web pages to them. Those with severe myopia may use screen magnifiers or text enlarging browser settings. Color defected individuals will miss the nuances communicated by color and must look for other indications which convey the same meaning. People with decreased motor skills generally rely on keyboard shortcuts for navigation. What all these individuals have in common is that they must rely on assistive technology to help them navigate the web and find the information they need.

The W3C is an international consortium that develops Web standards and guidelines to ensure long-term growth for the Web. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) was developed by the W3C in an effort to improve the accessibility of the World Wide Web especially, but not only, for people with disabilities. The WAI has developed a number of guidelines that helps to make websites more accessible, especially from the view of physically disabled people.

WAI was recently appointed to the Advisory Committee for the revision of U.S. Section 255 guidelines and Section 508 standards, which include Web accessibility. In addition to following best-recommended practices, being compliant with W3C standards helps hospitals and healthcare organizations to stay current with federal government requirements under Section 508.

"To a large degree, improving a website's accessibility is not geared toward directly assisting the disabled visitor, but toward helping these various technologies better read the site. Conveniently, many of the techniques that make a website easier to access for assistive technologies are the same techniques that make it more attractive to search engines, and therefore improve a site's rating," said Cummings.

Hospitals are among a group of many healthcare organizations, like medical insurance providers, that could benefit significantly from maintaining standards-compliant websites as an increased number of consumers seek health-related information online. According to Datamonitor, a leading provider of online data, analytic and forecasting platforms for key vertical sectors, the healthcare portal landscape is changing to meet the needs of consumers who are taking a more active role in the decision-making regarding their health care. The report predicted that "in coming years, healthcare portals will undergo an evolution that will include increased levels of personalization, interactivity, and functionality" (Datamonitor, "Healthcare Payer Portals: Shifting to meet the demands of the consumer-driven marketplace," January 2006).

Web Content Management solutions (WCM), such as Hannon Hill's Cascade Server, can aid in the process of making websites compliant by providing automatic checkers to ensure that all content managed with the solution is valid XHTML/XML, and adheres to the requirements for accessible content. One way hospitals can ensure their sites comply with the standards set forth by WAI is to select a WCM solution that automatically checks for compliance. For example, with the click of a button, Cascade Server will check web content for compliance, and alert users to any potential errors.

Hannon Hill also surveyed America's Best Colleges ranked by US News & World Report and found that only 14 percent are compliant with HTML/XHTML web standards recommended by the W3C.

For more information about the Hannon Hill surveys for hospitals and higher education organizations, please download the free white paper at www.hannonhill.com.

For more information on accessibility web standards recommended by the WAI, please visit http://www.w3.org/WAI/.> About Hannon Hill

Hannon Hill Corporation makes web content management solutions that give people the freedom to manage their Internet, Intranet, Extranet and Portal content with ease. Our solution, Cascade Server, is ideal for mid-sized organizations including education, healthcare, technology and publishing. Designed for any network environment, Cascade Server is as easy as email and gives IT departments much needed deployment flexibility, a zero footprint client and implementation in less than one month. Since 2001, Hannon Hill solutions have been trusted by organizations including Duke University, Carnegie Mellon University, MCG Health Systems, PGP Software, Reed College and SCOREGolf Magazine. For more information about our award-winning Cascade Server, go to www.hannonhill.com or contact us directly at 800-407-3540.