March 2006
Mar 28, 2006
Suing Target for Bad Design?
A blind UC Berkeley student is suing Target over claims that the superstore’s website is not accessable to visually impaired users. (via SFGate.com)
I think that it is universally stupid for a retailer the size of Target to have a website that excludes a segment of the population. This sounds like outright laziness. Does it make them legally liable? I would argue that it does not.
I doubt Target’s site was designed to specifically exclude a segment of it’s customers. It’s more likely that either they forgot to include them or ignored them. It’s not criminally negligent but it is sloppy customer relations. Target’s marketing department should be appalled.
This lawsuit makes a strong case to define what Molly Holzschlag, well-known web standards advocate, has called a new professionalism for Web developers and designers..
The heart of the issue is simple: We must know our craft! And what we don’t know, we must be willing to say we don’t know and be open to learning.
Quite simply, the agency that developed Target’s site, intentionally or not, messed up. The lawsuit, while without legal merit, should serve as a reminder that poor design is equivalent to poor customer service. Neither should be acceptable to people who would call themselves professionals.
Mar 28, 2006
The Wind from my Sails
..otherwise known as Supplies: Part 3.
I received the Belton Spray paint recently. And my enthusiasm for this project has past. Belton took more than 4 weeks to deliver while charging me shipping equal to the purchase price. I had convinced myself that they were the only company that had the color I need. Marvelous marketing on their part. I even bought into this:
Don’t wait 4-8 weeks for overseas sources to come correct. All orders ship within 2 weeks via U.P.S. No minimums. No hidden charges.
However, when I received their package, the can barely fit in the box that looked as though it was cut with a shaky hand and box cutters. And, as a final insult, the cap was smashed to pieces. I guess I could call them up and complain and maybe I’d get a replacement or a refund, but you know what, it’s not worth it. Goodbye Belton. I haven’t even tried the paint but I will never use it again.
This experience, coupled with my impending home-ownership, has forced me to shelf this project until late summer. Hopefully, that’s not a way of saying ‘forever.’
