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Legacy content recommendation

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From: Jordan Wilson
Date: Aug 26, 2014 11:57AM

Our agency has a web client we¹re currently working with who is starting a
large-scale (10k+ page) website redesign and they¹ve chosen to build to
WCAG 2.0 A and AA.

This particular client has a significant amount of legacy content from an
existing non-compliant site. That content is not current, but outdated
such as 2009 financial summaries or archived monthly staff newsletters.
The content is in the form of flash, PDFs, videos, non-accessible HTML etc
and goes back 7+ years.

Any content which would be current or vital they are rebuilding as part of
the new accessible site.

While they have committed to making their new site and current content
accessible, making that old content accessible represents a considerable
financial burden for limited utility and they¹re unable to commit to doing
so financially at this point.

For the sake of brevity, let¹s assume that they can¹t make that legacy
content accessible. Are there any recommended techniques or acceptable
practices for indicating or labeling that content as not-accessible?

The same client is also interested in having their new site certified by a
third party as compliant to demonstrate their commitment to accessibility.
They¹re undergoing a significant redesign and content creation effort to
make their web presence accessible.

My worry is whether leaving this legacy content on the site would make
accessibility certification a non-starter. Has anyone had any similar
experiences? Are there any recommendations to handle it properly? Is
leaving legacy content inaccessible ever acceptable?

One idea we discussed was to provide a form or contact option which would
allow users to request an accessible version of a specific inaccessible
asset as necessary.

Thanks for your help/insight,

Jordan Wilson