Proposed ADA Requirements May Affect Public Internet Use 420
An anonymous reader writes "The Associated Press is reporting on federal officials who want to expand the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to require accommodations by public websites, call centers, and technology providers. Hearings are scheduled in Chicago, Washington, and San Francisco. New rules could be implemented as soon as 2012. 'For more than a decade, the Justice Department has interpreted the ADA to apply to websites that offer goods and services. But now that idea could be clarified, and timetables for compliance could be set. ... The Justice Department is considering making it clear that some personal, noncommercial content would not be affected.'"
Re:OK (Score:3, Informative)
First off, you mixed apples and oranges. If person X wants to make a website that has a limited audience and exclude blind people, smart phones, etc. they may do so to a point. It sounds like this proposal takes that into account. However, if company Y wants to do the same thing, they can't. Companies do not get all the same rights as people. (And, in my opinion, this is a very good thing.) They have to abide by additional non-discrimination laws that include that they are not allowed to discriminate against the blind. For a long time, it has never been defined what that means on the web. This is just simply to establish one set of guidelines as to what that means rather than leaving it to a mis-mash of different court cases and give a time frame for companies to meet these guidelines.
Re:Some businesses will buck any change... (Score:3, Informative)
...but I don't think most businesses (or most people, generally) have anything to object to here. What's likely to make people anxious about changes to the ADA is uncertainty over what those changes will involve.
As a web developer, my main concern is just knowing what I'll have to do or do differently. It would be helpful if articles like this -- or their summaries -- provided links to the proposed guidelines. Personally, I'd prefer to get a head start on this so that my clients and I don't end up rushing to implement changes as the last moment.
Here you go: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ [w3.org] WCAG 2.0 is what the upcoming revision to Section 508 is being based on.
Re:What's next? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Fine with me (Score:2, Informative)
Being a web Accessibility expert myself. It is a lot more work then people think for certain multimedia content. However everything else is not as difficult as many make it out to be. But, it does take time and understanding. It also means you have to do things correct.
Always provide alternative content for media that is not purely decoration. This means stupid little hacks like placing text into a background is a incorrect. you can get around this by using a invisible pixel with the correct alternative language. Use fieldset tags to logically group forms. Always use label tags for inputs. Provide transcripts for any video or sound information. Provide proper fall back technology for people without features like JavaScript or other plug-ins. Make sure anything hover-over also works with tab-over events. Always make sure that differences in text are not just shown graphically. For example don't put a span tag or a class to just show selected state slap a strong or em tag on it.
The funny thing about this is not only do you make a better website but you also help your SEO rankings by actually making your content viewable by search-bots.
It is not really as hard to do as people make it out to be. I think it is a good thing. Although, maybe I am a bit biased as this only makes my skill set more valuable.
Re:you know.. im all for.... (Score:2, Informative)
31 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, 32 and all the nations 15 will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.33 He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' 37 Then the righteous 16 will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' 40 And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41 Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' 44 Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?' 45 He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' 46 And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
If that isn't being a brother's keeper, I don't know what is.
Re:What's next? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:you know.. im all for.... (Score:1, Informative)
I call bullshit. In Oz, that effect hasn't been observed at all when smoking was banned in pubs/clubs.
Re:Some businesses will buck any change... (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, and this will make it worse.
Having more government regulations is great for big businesses. Making their website compliant (or following most other regulations) costs money, but that amount of money is peanuts compared to the overall profits of the business. Meanwhile, any small businesses that want to compete find themselves having to pay a sum of money that is a good chunk of (or even more than) their profit in order to ensure compliance. Net result: big business wins. The conservatives are actually opposing big business here.
Re:you know.. im all for.... (Score:1, Informative)
The pubs round here seem to be doing fine. And the smoking ban is mainly for the benefit of workers, who are entitled to a safe working environment, where they aren't gong to get lung cancer from passive smoking.
fixed your link (Score:1, Informative)
You wanted to provide the link to the actual proposed 508 new rules as published in the Federal Register in March: http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/draft-rule.htm [access-board.gov]. There are differences from WCAG 2.0 just as the current 508 rules differ from WCAG 1.0.
HOWEVER, those are just the proposed new rules for Government websites whereas what the developer really wanted to know is what rules will be imposed on non-Government websites. As far as I know the process hasn't gotten as far as any committee reviewing the rules for Government websites and deciding which ones are reasonable to impose upon private sites.