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Nicole -> RE: More on the Target case (9/8/2006 6:08:15)
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I’m not trying to play “devil’s advocate” or anything, you all know my stance on web accessibility, but I still fail to see how a web designer can’t be sued for negligence or whatever if they haven’t undertaken to make a site follow current web standards and be accessible.
I mean, a company that should and did know better like Target probably went about finding a web designer for their site much like anyone else goes about employing anyone to do anything. There are many things I know nothing about and therefore trust the mechanic / engineer / tradesperson or whatever, I know it’s my responsibility to check their qualifications and make sure I’m happy with them to do a particular job, but not knowing the standards of these things I don’t know, how can I ask about them? I mean does anyone honestly ever ask a tradesperson what standards they follow and then go and check whether those standards are accepted best practice?
So I still struggle to accept that a designer can’t be held to blame, unless a client has specifically asked that a site not be made accessible, and then I also believe that designer should refuse to do the work. A business who legitimately wants and needs a website should just expect that the designer is going to follow current standards and the laws that govern their industry wherever they may live. I firmly believe it’s the designers responsibility to understand they have a responsibility to produce websites in accordance of the laws where we or the client lives/works. We all know about privacy laws don’t we? Most designers will advise clients on different aspects of possible breaches of privacy and suggest privacy policies be written on websites won’t they? So why is this different from accessibility?
My other question is about other forms of advertising and why most television commercials are completely inaccessible to those with disabilities, some even being absent of any sound in order for the viewer to look up if they’re not already. Some include screen flickering which I’m sure induces some to fits. Are there any precedents against television advertisements?
Nicole
Edit: In fact this reminds me, having moved to the country where TV and radio is just naturally far more amateurish than in the city, it's nice though don't get me wrong, I was watching television just after I got here and saw my first tv commercial that was cross-screen incompatable. Very amateur advert that either the client or the producer obviously wanted to stretch the full width of a wide screen tv. On my ordinary size television it cut the sides of all the words, phone number etc. Beautiful!
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