Blind Student Hits Target with Class Action Lawsuit - Target Isn’t Alone
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You would think that a large retailer like Target would know better than to allow its web site to be lacking in items that would make it more accessible – to say nothing of the graphical site maps and other features that make it less accessible to a portion of Target’s, um, target audience. Well, Amazon is the company that makes Target’s ecommerce possible, and this e-tailer has earned a reputation for inaccessible page design. Even if it hadn’t, though, Target is hardly alone in making this kind of mistake.
The Web Standards Project, “a grassroots coalition fighting for standards which ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all,” according to its web site, has been covering this lawsuit since the beginning. Matt May, writing for the site, described Target as middle of the road when it comes to its site accessibility. He reserved his nastiest words for Costco.com.
“Never mind the distinct lack of alt text,” May began, warming to his topic. “Costco’s homepage contains over a hundred subcategories in hidden drop-down boxes. But they’re not links…They’re table cells, with mouse events that fire JavaScript function to load the relevant pages.” Worse, from a blind web surfer’s perspective, is that Costco is far from alone; “Costco is only one example of many I found,” May points out. But it’s particularly ironic that Costco’s site is so problematic, since it bends over backwards to accommodate the needs of its customers, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Many companies are not totally unresponsive when these kinds of problems with their web sites are pointed out to them. Indeed, Target made some changes to its site after the lawsuit was filed. It then tried to get the judge to dismiss the suit based on the changes it made, but apparently they weren’t good enough.
Of course, this brings up the question that must be on your mind right now: what kinds of changes should you consider making to your web site to make it more accessible? Or, if you’re a web site designer or SEO, what do you need to convince your clients to do, to do well by them and their site visitors?
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