Triumphant rebirth--and an expert speaks about ADA compliance for web developers

The Akron contingent of Northeast Ohio has always been active, but it seems to be heating up even more lately. Listen to this story of entrepreneurial triumph...

Since 1994, Andrew Holland and his team have been contributing to the lively business climate in Akron as they grew their web development venture called Interactive Media Group (EYEMG). Originally the offspring of corporate giant A.B.Dick, the company immediately established itself as one of the top web development sources in Northeast Ohio.

Now, with the recent demise of its parent company, the EYEMG team decided to make the leap--as of June 24, 2005 they completed negotiations and purchased the company as their own!

BP: Congratulations, Drew--where do you plan to take EYEMG now?

AH: We plan to keep our focus on our two main products: our content management system "eyemg.Compose" and our online customer service system "eyemg.Respond" . We'll keep developing them and integrating them with other apps for our Ohio-Valley-based clients. Our latest project for Audiotechnica, a "prosumer" electronics company based in Stow, supports their online marketing communications efforts in five languages and four world areas.

Read more about EYEMG and Audiotechnica here.

BP: Well, while we've got you here, what about this ADA-compliance issue--a developer colleague forwarded an email about this the other day. Apparently there's pressure from some quarters to make web developers responsible for shouldering the costs of building websites that are ADA-compliant for visually impaired surfers. What are your thoughts on this proposed Section 508 law?

AH: Web developers for government websites have been required to comply for some time now. We've been doing this for our government clients for the past 3 years. We view this as similar to the early days of the Internet when web developers were advised to create a graphical site and a text-only site to accomodate different viewers and different environments.

BP: You mentioned that many of today's top-tier website navigation schemes are graphical. Will that have to change?

AH: The top-tier developers have been using alt-tags all along. The alt-tag (which is used to create a text description of any graphics that appear on the site) was invented by the WC3 panel (the independent governing body that suggests standards for the Internet) so that public websites could accommodate those who were visually impaired and those who didn't have high-speed connections and so turned off their graphics as a way of speeding up their ability to view sites. The alt-tag is meant to describe the missing graphic in such a way that viewers understands what the graphic represents--and in the case of non-impaired visitors, help them decide if they want to turn it on to view it.

BP: Do you feel this creates undue burdens for web developers?

AH: Not really. It just means that where compliance is required or preferred, market pressures will be on the developers--and the clients--to decide if they want to spend extra money to make the text option fully available everywhere on the site.

BP: Ah! Well, good. The smaller developers now know to start using alt-tags on every graphic (if they're not already) so that those who need it will get sites built appropriately--and everyone will be ready to successfully ride another potential regulatory tidal wave. Thanks, Drew. We look forward to hearing more from EYEMG.