Universal Access

a)
The new way we have learned to see web pages is really interesting. I had never looked at the other side of a web page. For instance, I have found http://www.nbcs.org.uk/, one web page that incorporates accessible multimedia. I believe this web pages is really complete respect access. The design follows the W3C’s Web Content accessibility Guidelines and XHTML 1.0. There is a written link “color scheme and access options” where the viewers can choose between four color scheme and four different sizes of letter in each color scheme.
There is a link to get “text only” and a graphic version; there are some instructions to apply according to the browser using Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, and Firefox, I have even used Thunder, a screen reader, to listen to it. This web page offers a lot of possibilities to all kind of viewers versus the web page http://www.adoptapet.com/ . This one does not offer any possibilities for viewers with disabilities. It is attractive, dynamic and funny thanks to the pictures, but blind people are going to find it difficult to access its information. After I have checked Waved 3.5, I found there were a lot of accessibility errors in the structure, outline view, features and alerts. In my opinion this page lacks the order in page design and in the way information should be presented to be more beneficial for viewers with disabilities.

b) Court Case

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) sued Target because they believed that target.com is not accessible to people with disabilities using screen-readers. According to NFB the inaccessibility of Target.com violates the ADA, the California Unruh Civil Rights Act and The California Disabled Persons Act. In August 2008 they announced a $6 million class action settlement. In the settlement Target will ensure that the target.com website meets the Target Assistive Technology Guidelines. Likewise, NFB will monitor target.com and train their employees responsible for coding the target.com website to remain Accessible to Guests who use assistive technologies.

References:
Retrieved from: http://www.nfbtargetlawsuit.com/final_settlement.htm
Retrieved from: http://jimthatcher.com/law-target.htm
Retrieved from: http://www.nfb.org/nfb/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=357
Retrieved from: http://www.dralegal.org/cases/private_business/nfb_v_target.php

c) Write a short description of the changes you would need to make in order to be compliant with the 508 standards and the WCAG guidelines.

In order to be compliant with the standards I will have to follow CSS for layout. That will help me to design a consistent structure where I will add meaningful titles and descriptive written links.
I will provide keyboard access to all toolbars, menus and provide telephone support staff.
I will increase the size of text or even allow to select preferred font and to alter background colors to create contrast. I will provide audio-description or even captioning when I design the graphic design if there are images or videos. Moreover, I will create a text only page, probably HTMLX that will facilitate the use of screen readers. Finally, I will validate the web page.

Susana