• by Kathy Wahlbin , December 5, 2006

Shoppers are all geared up to make this a merry holiday season for online retailers. If only those online retailers were ready for the shoppers.

In fact, more online retailers than not will blow it this season because their Web sites make it hard for people with disabilities to use. And I am not just referring to the blind.

Millions of us have some type of disability that make it hard to use computers. Think of the aging Baby Boomer who can't quite make out the screen without rubbing it with his or her nose. (Sound familiar?) Or the person who has trouble maneuvering the mouse. (Think arthritis.)

We pretended to go shopping online with these types of disabilities We looked at the top 10 retail Web sites most frequently visited by Baby Boomers, as determined by the AIM KEY MEASURES REPORT, Winter Release 2006, comScore MyMetrix.

Boomers have a lot of money to spend, and quite frankly, their rock isn't rollin' quite the way it used to. They are having to adapt to some unpleasant physical changes--and so do those of us who provide goods and services to them.

On the 10 sites, only one home page came close to being truly accessible!

That means the other nine probably left some potential buyers frustrated at their computers. Who has enough business that they can afford to do that?

This is particularly difficult to understand when it's just not that hard --or expensive--to do the things to make a Web site accessible for all. (By the way, accessible sites are easier for search engines to find and categorize. Where's the down side to making your site accessible?)

Who does it right? We think the HP Shop site is awfully good. Not perfect, but awfully good. (In the spirit of full disclosure, Mindshare Interactive Campaigns had nothing to do with the HP Shop site.)

What makes it so good?

§ It uses descriptive headings.

It provides text descriptions of images (alt text) that appear when you scroll over the image.

It provides clear, descriptive link text.

It labels all of its forms.

It defines its formatting in style sheets, which makes it easier for screen readers and search engines to understand.

Its organization is strong and intuitive for users.

Accessibility is about creating Web pages that everyone can use. It just shouldn't be so hard to spend money online!