My view of the world

I’ve started rewriting a couple of websites for some people. These need to comply with the infamous “508″ b.s.
The regulation was written to apply to goverment websites, but now it applies to pretty much everybody. The phrase “effective communications” is the one that gets you, They have some recommendations, but nowhere in this entire mess does it give any specifics.
The National Federation of the Blind is currently suing Target based on the inaccessability of their website. Since the regulations specificaly mention the “internet,” the fact that the brick and mortar stores have no tags in braile sets no precedent.
Now I get to write “alt” tags for every link and picture, I have to make certain that text readers (with no actual standards for said readers) can access the page easily, I suppose I’ll have to write a high contrast version for each page (thank God for css) and so on. Fortunately writing for SEO and writing for text browsers require a very similar page layout.
The whole thing is a major pain in the ass, and all anyone can do is try.
As far as the lawsuit against Target is concerned, you know that will take a couple of years to get to the Supreme Court, in the mean time there are more diffinitive laws floating around congress.
I know it sounds a bit trite, but wouldn’t the loss of 2 or 3 percent of the market to the competition be enough to force a change? In other words, why do we need so damned many laws, wouldn’t a series of ads on TV saying that these stores don’t care about a specific group of people with disabilities be infinitely more effective?
I guess there’s nothing left to do except make a fresh pot of coffee, have a shot of Casa Noble Extra Aged tequila and get on with it.