Could this kill the Web?

[Developereo]

A blind woman in Australia is suing an online shopping website because she finds the site unusable.

Blind woman Gisele Mesnage sues Coles over online shopping website

Apparently, there is precedent. A blind woman won a lawsuit in 2000 against the Sydney Olympic Committee's website.

Many countries have laws requiring businesses not to discriminate against disabled people, and a website which is open to the public is considered covered by those laws, meaning it must provide sufficient accessibility features.

This could become a nightmare for all websites. Does it mean that any website can now be sued by a blind person because it doesn't support full accessibility features?

 

[Asian.Century]

potentially not.

 

[Developereo]

potentially not.

UK also has laws requiring websites to provide accessibility.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Hmm... I guess blind people do need "online shopping" more than anyone else.

But I thought there were programs you could buy, that would "read out loud" whenever your mouse pointer was over some text. I thought it was built in to most operating systems, I could be wrong.

 

[ito]

A blind woman in Australia is suing an online shopping website because she finds the site unusable.

Blind woman Gisele Mesnage sues Coles over online shopping website

Apparently, there is precedent. A blind woman won a lawsuit in 2000 against the Sydney Olympic Committee's website.

Many countries have laws requiring businesses not to discriminate against disabled people, and a website which is open to the public is considered covered by those laws, meaning it must provide sufficient accessibility features.

This could become a nightmare for all websites. Does it mean that any website can now be sued by a blind person because it doesn't support full accessibility features?

i don't know but i have a feel that the way information is communicated could change drastically. internet could be replaced by something that is more tangible. something like I could smell and feel before I buy something over online

 

[JohnyD]

An interactive audio based voice recognizing portal might help sort this out! But might require a healthy internet bandwidth at client end..May be a specialized light weight voice transport protocol can be developed which will securely pass the message from Client to Server and vice versa!

 

[Developereo]

But I thought there were programs you could buy, that would "read out loud" whenever your mouse pointer was over some text. I thought it was built in to most operating systems, I could be wrong.

There are screen readers which take a web page and read it aloud, but it takes special care from web site designers to make their site meaningful to screen readers. It takes even more care to handle user interactions properly.

And it doesn't stop at screen readers. Some people are color bind, so you are not supposed to color-code things on your site. Use dots, dashes and other ways instead of using colors.

It almost doubles the effort to create a web site if you want to make the site accessible. Even a major supermarket chain like Coles in Australia didn't get it right.

Right now the focus in web design is to make sites "responsive", so that the same site can adapt itself when viewed on various sized smartphone screens, tablets and regular monitors.

i don't know but i have a feel that the way information is communicated could change drastically. internet could be replaced by something that is more tangible. something like I could smell and feel before I buy something over online

Any future technology would take years to standardize, then even more years to filter down to browser support, and then more years to get implemented in common usage.

An interactive audio based voice recognizing portal might help sort this out! But might require a healthy internet bandwidth at client end..May be a specialized light weight voice transport protocol can be developed which will securely pass the message from Client to Server and vice versa!

Same comment as above.

 

[ito]

Any future technology would take years to standardize, then even more years to filter down to browser support, and then more years to get implemented in common usage.



Same comment as above.

yes..it will take time, but i guess it should not take as much as you think. human race progressed much faster in last 50 years than it had in last 5000 years.

and why we require a browser, if the total internet is going to be replaced with something new?

 

[Developereo]

yes..it will take time, but i guess it should not take as much as you think. human race progressed much faster in last 50 years than it had in last 5000 years.

and why we require a browser, if the total internet is going to be replaced with something new?

Your points are valid, but that's a long term issue.
I am talking about current technologies as they exist in the Web today.
Implementing accessibility would put significant pressure on companies for additional resources..

 

[PlanetWarrior]

I forsee the web getting outdated within the next 5 years. I forecast a new method of earplugs which will contain data to be transmitted on a holograph screen in front of you wherever there is access to wifi. You may ask any question (similar to android phones), a holograph screen will open in front of you, it will talk to you or provide the necessary information on that screen. It will close when you order it to do so. My first edition should be launched within the next three years

 

[osama zafar]

interesting.

 

[Developereo]

I forsee the web getting outdated within the next 5 years. I forecast a new method of earplugs which will contain data to be transmitted on a holograph screen in front of you wherever there is access to wifi. You may ask any question (similar to android phones), a holograph screen will open in front of you, it will talk to you or provide the necessary information on that screen. It will close when you order it to do so. My first edition should be launched within the next three years

Blind people can't see holograms.
You'd get sued!

 

[PlanetWarrior]

Blind people can't see holograms.
You'd get sued!

C'mon man, I did mention that the hologram would also contain a voice activation system. It would be similar to the GPS navigation system. Once activated the voice of a sexy man or woman (or transsexual) would come on together with an image on the hologram