Want to do something meaningful for the holidays? How about sending an email to an inaccessible web site, asking them to make their site accessible? I just did it, myself! If you want to do this too, head to the great list just published over at WebAim of Accessibility Errors Found on the Alexa Top 100 Web Sites.
I picked a site, pulled it up in my browser, and found their customer service email form. Then I sent the message below (this is a generic version in case you want to copy and use it yourself):
Dear FOO.COM.
I noticed that your website has accessibility errors (it is not accessible to people with disabilities). This is a U.S. Federal requirement. Other organizations, like Target, have been sued for this. Your web site appears on a recently published list where everyone can see that your home page has at least XX accessibility errors. http://webaim.org/blog/alexa-100-accessibility-errors/
Most of these errors are quite simple to fix. I bet your web staff already knows how to fix them.
Could you please fix these issues, so that the FOO.COM website can be accessible to everyone?
Thanks so much,
You know, that felt so good, I think I’ll send another one (or two, or three).
Happy Holiday’s Y’all!
What a great idea, Glenda! Your site visitors may find “Contacting Organizations about Inaccessible Websites” to be a handy resource. This document is provided by the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative’s Education and Outreach Working Group, and you can read it at:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/users/inaccessible
Happy holidays, and thanks to all of those who help to make the Web a more accessible place.
Target also made a complete turn around and realized embracing accessibility was the right way to go. They were given a gold star accessibility award by NFB.
Jennifer, I love that resources from the W3C. Thanks for reminding me.
Rebecca, that is so good to hear about Target. Another example of how accessibility can be the path to universal design.