The Quality Mark agreement

• Introduction
• Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl
• Quality Mark agreement
• Overview of costs
• Register
• More information

Introduction

A good web site meets both quality and accessibility requirements. The Quality Mark drempelvrij uses the internationally recognized W3C guidelines for quality and accessibility. These guidelines have been embraced by the ministers of all European member states. For those who would like to have more detailed inspections on quality, please check the government web guidelines that can be used for evaluation in addition to the quality mark.

Why opt for an external inspection?

Our inspection is aimed at organizations that consider the quality and accessibility of their web site important, but are not able or willing to perform the evaluation and the supervision of it themselves due to the amount of time and knowledge involved. We are also geared to those organizations who would like to carry the quality mark as a continuous guarantee on quality and accessibility. We can offer support in maintaining the quality and accessibility of your web site by carrying out inspections on a regular basis.

Set up by who

The Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl has been set up at the request of and in cooperation with the Dutch government and all stakeholders involved. The Bartiméus Accessibility Foundation led the project, but transfered it to the foundation Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl in 2005. The latter was responsible from that moment on for the quality guarantee of the agreement. The following organizations have contributed to the creation of the Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl:

• National Accessibility Agency (Landelijk Bureau Toegankelijkheid, originator);
• Bartiméus Accessibility Foundation (project leader);
• Dutch Ministry of Public Welfare, Health and Sport;
• Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
• VNO-NCW (Confederation of the Dutch industry and employers), also on behalf of SMEs;
• Nederland-ICT (FENIT) (Umbrella organization for ICT related companies in the Netherlands);
• The Dutch homeshopping organization (Nederlandse Thuiswinkel Organisatie);
• CG-Raad (Dutch Council the Chronically III and the Disabled);
• Dutch Federation of Parent Associations for People with Mental Retardation (Federatie van Ouderverenigingen voor mensen met een verstandelijke handicap);
• Dutch Federation for the interests of the Visually Impaired and the Blind (Federatie van Slechtzienden en Blindenbelang);
• SeniorWeb;
• Elektronic Platform The Netherlands (Elektronisch Platform Nederland) (EPN);
• Bartiméus;
• Dutch National Standardization Institute (NEN);
• Cap Gemini.

The benefits of the Quality Mark agreement

The Quality Mark agreement is a flexible agreement for organizations that would like to stay informed of the level of accessibility of their site and of new developments in the field. If the results of the inspection show that the site is in conformance with the checkpoints for accessible web sites, your site will be declared accessible and you will receive the quality mark (certificate). Besides that, your site will be included in the List of Accessibility and the Index of drempelvrij.nl. The web designer of your site will also be added to the List of Certified Web Designers.

Figure 1: Diagram of the Quality Mark agreement

Inspection and logo

Basically every site should be thoroughly tested once a year. First, the right moment for carrying out the inspection is being determined in consultation with your organization. In that stage you can propose extra pages to be checked and suggest a date for inspection. The inspection reports and comments can be viewed by checking your login part of this site.

The Quality Mark agreement distinguishes a number of stages in this process:

• Stage 1: If your site is conformant with less than 12 checkpoints:
  Having less than 12 checkpoints, no logo or comments page is provided. The inspection does give you clarification on the exact bottlenecks for your site, giving you the opportunity to solve these accurately.
  
  
• Stage 2: If your site is conformant with 12 or more checkpoints:
  Following the inspection you will automatically receive an e-mail supplying you with an orange-colored logo that states the number of checkpoints that your site meets. It is optional (but not mandatory) to place this logo on your site. The logo contains a link to a special page on our site which informs visitors of the accessibility status of your site and of the checkpoints that we evaluated. The page offers a checklist of the checkpoints used, not mentioning further details. If you have found a temporary solution for one of the failing checkpoints, you can consult with us and have this comment added to the page. The document is linked to the user complaint procedure.
  
  
• Stage 3: If your site is conformant with all 16 checkpoints:
  Following the inspection you will automatically receive an e-mail supplying you with the green-colored logo by Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl. It is optional (but not mandatory) to place this logo on your site. You will then be added to the list of the foundation Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl.
  New releases and major changes or additions to your site should be reported as soon as possible. In that case, your site should undergo a new inspection within 17 business days (these additional checks are not included in the price).

Additional checkpoints (Priority 2)

Web sites that meet the requirements for the Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl (Priority 1 checkpoints of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG1.0)) are also showing improved scores for the Priority 2 checkpoints. These Priority 2 guidelines make the Internet even more accessible and offer additional advantages for web owners as well (refer to the article about benefits of accessible web design). Apart from becoming holder of the certificate of the Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl, you are also offered the possibility to let us evaluate the number of checkpoints priority 2 your web site meets.

User complaint procedure

We have set up a user complaint procedure for visitors who think that a certain approved accessible web site does not meet the standards for accessibility after all. The logo of the Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl on your site acts as a link to an on-line comments form which can be used to state with great accuracy the problems that visitors encounter. The help desk of the Bartiméus Accessibility Foundation will evaluate the complaint and decide whether the site indeed does not meet the criteria for web accessibility.

If it turns out that your site is no longer fully accessible, you have the opportunity to solve the problems within 17 business days based on the information given by the Bartiméus Accessibility Foundation. If you solve the problems, you are allowed to keep the accessibility logo, however if you cannot provide solutions within these 17 business days, the accessibility logo will be (temporarily) removed from your site. After you have found a suitable resolution to the problems, the logo is placed on your site again.

The advantages of the Quality Mark agreement

The Quality Mark agreement offers the following:

• Overview of your web site's accessibility conformance with the international standards (de Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) of the W3C, and the Drempels Weg guidelines);
• International conformity to legislation and guidelines;
• Overview of the benefits of accessible web sites, both economically and socially;
• Provision of a personal login (user account to be shared with the web designer and other people within the organization)that provides access to additional information and detailed reports on the accessibility of your site;
• Full flexibility customized to your development path;
• Statistics: your site's accessibility compared to other participants in the Quality Mark agreement (summarized results);
• Information and support (related to making your web site accessible and keeping it accessible) through newsletters, brochures, on-line discussions, and so on;
• Informal meetings with fellow-participants, service providers and suppliers (businesspartners);
• Exchange of knowledge and information by means of on-line discussions and seminars;
• Provision of your personal comments page open to the public, containing the temporary solutions to checkpoints you haven't met yet (in consultation with Accessibility);
• Your name and logo included in the index;
• Direct link from the index to your web site;
• The opportunity to take part in tailor-made workshops (in consultation with Accessibility);
• The opportunity to take part in working groups and private forums with fellow-participants and suppliers.

Overview of costs

The costs of subscribing to the Quality Mark agreement are 250 Euro (VAT excl.) a year. In this annual fee the costs for a personal login and access to a personal page (containing information on your results, status, general guidelines) are included. The fee for the mandatory annual inspection depends on the size of your web site.
The Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl foundation is the owner of the Quality Mark logo. That is why, apart from the subscription fee, you would also have to pay contribution to the foundation Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl for an annual license (204 Euro, excl. VAT). These costs are linked to the Quality Mark agreement and will therefore be charged by Accessibility.

Additional inspection options

The below inspections are offered only in combination with the Drempelvrij inspection mentioned before. These additional inspections are often discounted, for example when the Drempelvrij tool bar is used or in case the site is built by a certified web designer. Please refer to the on-line registration form.

All prices mentioned are annually, in Euro, and excluding VAT.

Calculation examples:

• A web site consisting of 75 pages:
  basic costs (250) + inspection (250) + contribution for quality mark (204) = 704 Euro (excl. VAT)
• A web site consisting of 75 pages plus one additional inspection:
  basic costs (250) + 2 x inspection (250) + contribution for quality mark (204) = 954 Euro (excl. VAT)
• A web site consisting of 1000 pages:
  basic costs (250) + inspection (750) + contribution for quality mark (204) = 1204 Euro (excl. VAT)
• A web site consisting of 11000 pages:
  basic costs (250) + inspection (750) + 10000 additional pages (500) + contribution for quality mark (204) = 1704 Euro (excl. VAT)

Register

If you want to register your organization for the Quality Mark agreement and the Quality Mark drempelvrij.nl, just fill out the registration form..
In order to register, you will have to go through the following two steps. First, you enter the details of your organization and contact person. Here you also select a number of subscription options. Secondly, those data are displayed together with the costs for your subscription. At this point you are still able to make any changes. After having agreed with our conditions you can send your data. After having sent your message, you will receive a confirmation on your registration.

Go to the registration form.

More information

Stichting Bartiméus Accessibility
E-mail: toetsing@accessibility.nl
Telephone: 030-698 2401