The Disability Discrimination Act was a significant reason commissioners began taking interest in user friendly and accessible websites.
The Family Resources survey revealed that there are nearly 10 million disabled individuals in the United Kingdom, all of whom have an investing power around 80 billion pounds per year.
Content developed with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) guidelines and specifications in mind could be easily used in other mediums such as television, cell phones, portable computers, and on the internet.
The heart of the document covers Web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and rich media format (such as PDF, Flash, audio and video).
Section 508 is part of the US Rehabilitation Act, which required Federal Agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.
It currently references the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and promotes the use of structured markup, avoiding presentational attributes, and advises the use of CSS layouts.