It's all about who's ACTUALLY responsible for what goes on with YOUR website.  Marketing blurb and SLAs are all very well but how do you actually measure whether your Design Agency actually delivered the error free, accessible and standards compliant website they said they would ?  Or that your new CMS system delivers on the same promise.

And if they don't come up to scratch what are the legal implications for them ?  Well very limited as these things are so difficult to prove - look at he long running (i.e. years and years) between companies and some of the big consultancies regarding failed projects.

But what about if your Home Page has failing links to content that are a legal requirement.  Who ends up in court then ?  Not them.  YOU.

If we take a look at a page we've mentioned before, the Toshiba Telecoms Home Page, we find 2 broken links. But not just any old broken links. The "Terms and Conditions" and the "Privacy Policy" links don't work, which are a bit more of a problem than the normal run-of-the-mill links as these are both legal requirements.

It's no defence to say "but my CMS vendor said this couldn't happen" or "but my Design Agency assured me that the site was perfect".  It wont wash.  At best it's a plea for leniency.

And if it's reported widely in the press - your reputation is in tatters and your brand is damaged.  Who'll bother to use your site when there are plenty of others to choose from ?

How about the internal Web Team ?  Is anyone telling the CIO/CEO that everything is fine with the site and that they are compliant with all the legal requirements placed on organisations with a website ? I suspect they are because I'm sure no one is saying "we're fine apart from these 2 crucial links on our Home Page".

It's time to raise the game and take quality a lot more seriously.  Take responsibility and take control.  Remember the visitors to your website didn't read the marketing blurb or hear the assurances your Design Agency gave you and there is ALWAYS an alternative for them to use.

Oh and it's worth pointing out that the links have been broken since at least the middle of October 2009 when we first spotted them. (that's over THREE months ago)

Take a look at the full size view

Not even a nice friendly Toshiba branded error page apologising for the inconvenience.