amazon?

[Linux for blind general discussion]

Regarding the Domino's lawsuit, a few points to consider:

1. They are much smaller than Amazon, and thus there's a much greater
chance a lawsuit will actually accomplish something.

2. Last I checked, Domino's website was an inaccessible mess even in
Firefox, one of the major graphical web browsers. By comparison,
Amazon, though far from perfect, is usable in Firefox with Orca.
Assuming my experience isn't that unusual and that the gulf between
the major graphical browsers isn't as great as that between graphical
browsers and text-browsers, Domino's bad web design is probably
shutting out a much larger portion of their potential customers
compared with Amazon.

3. Domino's has actual competition. Even if the lawsuit results in the
metaphorical slap on the wrist or they don't care about business lost
because blind pizza lover's can't place an order on their website,
Bringing their poor treatment of disabled consumers to light might
actually convince enough people to favor other delivery pizzerias.
Amazon doesn't have any real competition, making it much harder for
anyone to follow through on a decision to deny them business.

That said, I confess I'm a bit leery of the legal route as a
instrument of change. Sitting aside the tendency for sufficiently
large corporations to shrug off all but the most damaging lawsuits,
I'm fearful of setting precedents that large corporations can easily
comply with while remaining ruthlessly uncaring in their pursuit of
larger bottom lines but which could easily trip up a small-time
creator trying to establish a web presence.

Part of me says what we need is for every k-12 and college class in
web design to focuse on standard's compliance and for every course
involving UI design to hammer home the importance of accessibility...
but I've got even less faith that the goverenment can actually promote
right thinking through education than that they can pass legistlation
that keeps corporations in check without overburdening indie creators.

Though, while on the subject, can anyone recommend a good text book
for someone wanting to expand their web design skills that puts
emphasis on writing web sites that are standards compliant and
accessible? I know how to format text with HTML and create lists and
tables, but don't know the first thing about CSS, HTML5, dynamic
content, or making forms interactive, so something friendly to a blind
beginner would be nice.