- From: John Foliot - Stanford Online Accessibility Program <jfoliot@stanford.edu>
- Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 10:58:01 -0700
- To: "'HTMLWG'" <public-html@w3.org>, <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
- Cc: "'advocate group'" <list@html4all.org>
In light of the fact that a judge today ruled that the suit against Target.com can become a class action suit, and that one of the key complaints is that many of the images do not have alt text, or appropriate alt text... This writer wonders aloud what the judge would think about sites that deliberately did not include alt text, or did not programmatically allow for the inclusion of alt text... "The court's decision today makes clear that people with disabilities no longer can be treated as second-class citizens in any sphere of mainstream life. This ruling will benefit hundreds of thousands of Americans with disabilities." - Larry Paradis, Disability Rights Advocates http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2191625,00.asp "All e-commerce businesses should take note of this decision and immediately take steps to open their doors to the blind." - Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind. http://tinyurl.com/33jszq It would seem pretty fool-hardy to create an online application or site that did not allow for the insertion of alt text; especially if the above results in serious grief for Target.com. A future spec might be conformant without alt text, but a judge might still award damages; making the exercise theoretically moot. Score one for social engineering! JF
Received on Wednesday, 3 October 2007 17:58:27 UTC