Beginning in 2006, Target, Inc. has been involved in a class action lawsuit with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and other plaintiffs, claiming that Target's website does not meet the minimal standards for web users browsing with screen readers. Specifically, the website does not allow blind customers to purchase or perform functions available to sighted customers. Its layout, lack of tab or cursor browsing, and inconsistent use of alt text tags apparently positioned the site in violation of the Americans Disabled Persons Act and California's Disabled Person Act- where the lawsuit was filed. As a result, Target will be re-working their website (view press release) to make it fully accessible by February 28, 2009. Unfortunately, Target will also be paying out upwards of $6 million to all individuals who submit valid claims, $3,500 per claimant, per incident (the maximum is set at $7,000 for 2 incidents per claimant).
An expensive lesson for Target, but a highly valuable one for web designers.
Target is now the example of why it's important to make your site accessible. The win for NFB was on the basis that the web (i.e., world wide web, web-o-sphere, the internet, etc.) is a "public" place - and in doing so violated an ADA 1990 law that requires "retailers" and other "public places" to accommodate people with disabilities. (Target argued that the law only covered physical spaces, but still lost.) Based on this ruling, all web sites not accommodating screen-readers are theoretically liable, and risk violating this same ADA law.
Initially, it may seem overhauling your website is the next step- but in fact, small tweaks and good habits can go a long way. Also, free tools are available to help with testing your site.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the international consortium that develops protocols and guidelines that help develop web standards, has a thorough section on accessibility. In their section on accessibility, there is a summarized version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (link) that list 10 quick tips and techniques that serve as good guidance when designing- paraphrased here:
- Use alt text tag for images and animations.
- For image maps, use client side and alt text for the hot spots.
- Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions for video.
- When creating a hyperlink, use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here."
- Stick to a consistent structure, and use CSS for layout and style where possible.
- Summarize graphs and charts with a longdesc attribute.
- With respect to scripts and plug-ins, provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
- Use the noframes element and meaningful titles.
- When using tables, make line-by-line reading sensible.
- Use tools to check your work.
With respect to quick tip #10, W3C links to a list of tools to help you test your site. Three that I found were easy to use are listed below:
1. Functional Accessibility Evaluator, provided by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [link]
2. HERA 2.0, HERA is a tool to check the accessibility of Web pages according to the specification Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0). HERA performs a preliminary set of tests on the page and identifies any automatically detectable errors or checkpoints met, and which checkpoints need further manual verification. [link]
3. TAW (Web Accessibility Test) is a tool for the analysis of Web sites, based on the W3C. It goes a little further than the others listed by providing an overlay on the inserted web address. [link]
To go even further, you can do your own hands on testing by downloading 2 free tools. The first is WebbIE [link], a web browser for the blind and visually-impaired people. The second is the Thunder Screen Reader [link], an award-winning talking software for the blind and visually impaired.
Browsing your site with both these tools activated (and your monitor off) can help you better understand the experience and the problems that may plague your site from a blind perspective.
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