Inaccessible Websites could cause legal woes

Web designers beware: if your company website does not comply with universal web design standards, meaning it is inaccessible or not user-friendly to people with visual or mental handicaps, you could be sued.

Target Corporation is being sued by the National Federation of the Blind due to the fact that visually impaired persons using screen reading technology cannot access much of the information on the Target website, and cannot purchase items from the sight without assistance.

Last September, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled that a retailer can be sued if its website is inaccessible to the visually impaired, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Before this ruling, it was assumed that websites did not fall under the act, and were not consider places of accommodation.

How can you be sure that your website is acceptable? A good place to start is the Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards. You can review the standards here. These standards cover a variety of technologies.

These standards state that every non text element, essentially all photos and graphics, must be labeled with an alt tag containing descriptive text about the element.

This labeling serves two purposes: it makes the graphic accessible to users of non-graphic technologies, and also may help with search engine optimization.

If you would like more information on accessibility issues for the blind and visually impaired, feel free to contact IB West.