Website Developers to consider Accessibility
April 20th, 2008 . by Star
Last October 2007, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that California’s civil rights laws reach commercial websites and thus protect legally blind individuals who visit those sites. The complainants in the case allege that target.com is not accessible to blind individuals because the retailer failed to include “alternative text,” i.e., invisible code, that screen reading software can use to orally describe the content of the webpage. Notably, the court ruled that California disability law is more protective than its federal counterpart. While the Americans with Disabilities Act requires a link between an attempt to access a website and the actual denial of access to a physical store, the court held that the California statutes require no such connection. While the ruling has not yet been tested on appeal, it means that website developers should consider accessibility issues in designing websites that are aimed at California consumers since the sites may be evaluated for accessibility without regard to the accessibility of the brick-and-mortar premises.
(Source:Downeybrand.com)
