Target Accessibility Case Could Be A Gain For Usability

I just read an interesting article at the SEWatch blog:

SearchEngineWatch: Don't Ignore Accessibility

The article is specifically about the class-action lawsuit that has been brought against Target stores by the National Federation for the Blind. Apparently, Target's website is not fully accessible to blind users, and so Target is getting sued because this oversight violates California laws protecting people with disabilities.

Most webmasters out there know that there are things you can do to make your website accessible to blind users. Proper CSS formatting, along with proper separation of content from design in each page is all part of the process. However, doing these things will not only allow your site to be accessible to blind users, but will also allow you to make many Web 2.0-type features available on your site easily.

My hope is that better accessibility across the board will also give basic usability a boast. Perhaps we will see some quasi standards evolve for usability aspects of a site - and perhaps we will see the already existing standards become more concrete.