USA: accessible web mandatory

Not only for institutional websites, the Target department stores have also been forced to make their online store accessible to partially-sighted people.

The accessibility criteria must be observed even by private websites and not just by online institutional services.

The news comes from the United States, where Federal judges ordered Target Corporation, owners of the department store chain of the same name, to change its website in order to meet the needs of partially-sighted people.

In compliance with a 1990 law, the Federal authorities in Washington have introduced mandatory accessibility even of private websites to guarantee equal treatment and access for physically-challenged people.

The 'revolution', at least at present, includes only those sites that offer e-sales.

If retailers have an Internet presence, their virtual stores have to comply with the same standards of accessibility as in 'real life': since 1990, all commercial businesses in the United States should provide the necessary structures for people with various kinds of physical impediments. US citizens can report online stores that are not accessible.

For the Mindshare Interactive Campaigns association, which is committed to social and political communication, 'these new provisions are not just good for users, but for the web in general because more accessible sites means more orderly search engines'.

Google, for example, has created a search system that gives special priority to accessible sites, thus facilitating use by partially-sighted users.

Web accessibility is also a fairly hot subject in Italy, where the so-called Stanca Law obliges public administrations to provide totally accessible online services.

There is an ongoing debate to amend this law. Some consider it to be incomplete, while others are openly critical as it does not guarantee equal opportunities for citizens who are physically challenged in a variety of ways. And there are still many public websites that do not even offer accessible versions of their pages.

(Source: Venice City Council)