Re: css layout should be symmetrical

> From:	Jesse McCarthy [SMTP:mccarthy36@earthlink.net]
 
> hack.  Of course, the statements quoted need to be evaluated on a case-by-
> case or person-by-person basis.  I don't develop for non-visual media, so 
> should I care about this? 

If you are in the USA, Australia, or Europe, it is rather difficult not
to be obliged to support non-visual media.

If you are in the USA and your customer is a federal government agency,
or you are developing an external web site for a customer that is 
a supplier to such a body, you are covered by "section 508", which would
require that the site be accessible to people with disablities, including
blindness <http://www.section508.gov/>.

I believe the following applies to the US as well, but certainly appears
to apply in the UK and has been the source of successful court action
in Australia (Sydney Olympics web site)....

If your web site is used in connection with the supply of services to 
the public, and the nature of the business is not such that it is 
intrinsically unsuitable for blind users (very few web based businesses
would fit this category), you are obliged to make the site accessible to
blind users, whether or not there are currently any blind customers of
the company running the site.

IANAL

(For the moderator: unfortunately I take this list in the office but it
is now unreasonable for me to post to it from there.)

Received on Tuesday, 19 February 2002 07:04:14 UTC