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Where are we now?

It's been seven years since the W3C released the first version of the web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG 1.0). Since then, accessibility has slowly but surely turned up on the radar of web managers in most large organisations.

The benefits of accessibility are pretty well known to

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

o - a quick Google search for web accessibility benefits returns over 37 million results! Because of this, more and more large profile websites have offered better and better accessibility as the years have gone by. There's still a long way to go but the progress over the past few years is highly visible and

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

indeed positive.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 refers to the ‘next generation’ of websites and online applications. Websites using Web 2.0 technologies have started to spring up all over the Internet, and are likely to exponentially increase in number over the next few years. Although the term itself, Web 2.0, has beco

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

me a bit of a buzzword, there's no doubt that Web 2.0 is here and is becoming more and more commonplace.

Two characteristics of Web 2.0 include AJAX and user generated content. Many websites are beginning to embrace these two concepts, causing never-before seen accessibility issues...

1. AJAX

AJAX, or Asy

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

nchronous JavaScript and XML isn't actually a technology in itself. Rather, it's a technique for using a number of existing technologies to create highly interactive web applications.

AJAX-based web pages require support for JavaScript, but most assistive technologies can now support (some types of) JavaScr

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

ipt. The main accessibility concern isn't therefore the use of JavaScript, but rather the way in which JavaScript is used to cause on-the-page changes.

The Amazon diamond search ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/gsl/search/finder/104-8020741-7498364?ie=UTF8&productGroupID=loose%5Fdiamonds ), for example, showcases

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

a great example of using AJAX to create an interactive and highly useful interface. It basically uses click-and-drag sliders to allow users to broaden and narrow a wide range of filtering criteria. The page then automatically updates to show how many results conform to the users' selected criteria.

The Ama

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

zon application offers fantastic usability for many web users. But it's totally impossible for screen reader and keyboard-only users to use, and very difficult for any screen magnifier user to use. The solution? A separate simplified accessible version, which Amazon have actually provided (ironically, this s

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

eparate version hasn't been built to high levels of accessibility, although it could easily have been).

2. User generated content

Another concept of Web 2.0 is content generated by users. Blogs and wikis are becoming more and more commonplace, as stand-alone websites or within an organisation's website. Cu

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

rrently, many large organisations struggle to control the accessibility of their content due to the large number of content editors - how are they going to cope with users contributing content as well as employees of the organisation?

Websites such as Blogger, Flickr and YouTube are totally reliant on user

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

generated content, in the form of blogs, photos and videos respectively. How can these websites control the accessibility of their content? Content is created at such a rapid speed that it wouldn't be reasonable (or even possible) for any of these websites to police that content for accessibility.

Image- an

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

d photo-driven websites, such as Flickr, could request users insert alternative descriptions, either of their own or other people's photos. Ensuring this actually happens across the site though will be difficult to impossible to achieve.

Other websites, including those of large organisations, are attempting

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

to build up communities by allowing users to upload images, post comments and generally interact with each other and the site. Will the website owners provide a mechanism to ensure this content is produced accessibly? Can they?

WCAG 2.0

The second version of the web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG)

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

from the W3C is currently in final working draft and is soon to be released officially.

One of the main differences between version 2.0 and 1.0 of the guidelines is that WCAG 2.0 is technology-neutral. This means that the guidelines themselves are far more vague and open to interpretation than previously.

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

Predictions

There are three major factors that will shape web accessibility in the future: AJAX, user generated content and WCAG 2.0. The increased prominence of these factors could lead to some of the following:

* Accessibility will become less and less guideline-driven - With the advent of new technolog

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

y (such as AJAX), and the technology-neutral and vague nature of the new W3C guidelines (WCAG 2.0), accessibility is becoming less and less guideline driven. This means that employing accessibility experts is going to become more and more important for organisations as interpreting these guidelines correctly

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

will become more and more difficult.

* Alternative accessible versions will become the norm - Historically speaking, separate accessible versions were frowned on for both ethical and business reasons (see Separate text-only version? No thanks! for more on this ( http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-r

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

esources/web-accessibility/text-only.shtml )). However, for the first time usability and accessibility are coming head-to-head with each other and rich interactive interfaces often can't be made fully accessible. In this instance, a separate version will have to be provided (but only after all other routes h

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

ave been exhausted).

* User generated content is likely to offer poor accessibility - Content created by users is becoming more and more commonplace on the web. This kind of content is being created at such a rapid rate that it's going to be impossible to police it for accessibility.

* JavaScript, PDF & Fl

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

ash will no longer be thought of as 'evil' - In WCAG 1.0, web managers and developers were basically told that their websites shouldn't rely on any of these three technologies. WCAG 2.0 on the other hand doesn't stipulate this, and rightly so as most assistive technologies can now support these technologies.

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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