Hi All,

I sent this earlier to some other internet forums.  My point in bringing it
here is not to engage in federation bashing.  However as someone who's
worked extensively on web accessibility I am disappointed to see an
organization of people who are blind involved with a web site that has some
decidedly inaccessible elements when you delve into it.  I am posting this
here for informational purposes.

The National Federation of the Blind, who's main web page can be found at

http://www.nfb.org

appears to have entered into some sort of financial arrangement with an
online shopping site called Greater Good.  The basic deal, as near as I
can tell, is that an organization links to the Greater Good web site and
then gets a cut (typically five percent) of any sales made from people who
shop via a path leading from that initial link.

The NFB's version of the Greater Good web site can be found at:

http://www.nfb.greatergood.com

Personally I think that online shopping has the potential to be a very
positive thing for people who are blind.  However, I find it disappointing
to say the least, that the NFB would get involved with a web site that in
many cases goes against the practices of accessible web design.

Both the Greater Good web site and many of the stores linked off the
initial page are filled with images and imagemaps that lack alt-tags.
Further where frames are used they often have very uninformative titles
such as "top" and "middle" and in many cases lack any title at all.

As an example, try exploring the jcrew.com store linked off the initial
page.  The first thing you encounter is a frame titled "top" which is
filled with the most cryptic URLs one can imagine.

Also follow the "Electronics" link from the first shopping page.  In
addition to a repeat of many of the general categories, you'll find links
to a few products plus links lacking alt-tags.  If you are blind you have
to guess where these untagged links go because the underlying URLs are
again a mysterious mix of dots, slashes and other assorted punctuation.

The problems with this online shopping site are nothing out of the
ordinary when it comes to web accessibility.  But I find it quite
disappointing that a consumer organization that claims to be concerned
with issues faced by people who are blind would seek to profit from such
inaccessible web sites.

Greater Good lists the email of

[log in to unmask]

for contacts.  I am not a member of the NFB so do not know who within that
organization to mention this issue to.  If anyone knows who's responsible
for the federation involvement with this web site it would be interesting
to know what reasoning was used to at the very least passively endorse
inaccessible web design by getting involved with Greater Good.

Kelly


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