Milne et al. [17], for example, found that designers need more than just W3C
guidelines if the web sites they develop are to be usable by, as well as “accessible to”,
older people. This view was confirmed in a recent survey of the accessibility of websites
by Petrie et al. [28], who found that the observance of W3C guidelines did not necessarily
lead to a site which was usable by disabled people. Newell et al. [23] describe a specific
example of the ineffectiveness of only reading guidelines and attending lectures for
educating software designers. He and his co-workers acted as advisers to a consultancy
company developing a proof of concept web portal for older people. The engineers in the
company were high quality engineers well aware of user centred design principles, and
had been given data and presentations on the characteristics of older people.