Safeway Website Now Serves Visually Impaired Shoppers

Safeway Inc. has launched a comprehensive initiative to make its online grocery shopping website more accessible and usable for visually-impaired shoppers, using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.0 level AA as its accessibility standard.

"Safeway has a long history of supporting our communities and people with disabilities,” said Larree Renda, Safeway EVP. “This decision is an important step towards helping our customers who are blind or visually impaired have a better shopping experience.”

About the WCAG

The WCAG 2.0 Guidelines are promulgated by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and ensures that online content is more accessible and usable to persons with visual and other disabilities. The Guidelines do not affect the content or look and feel of a website. They are of particular benefit to blind computer users who use voice output or magnification technology on their computers and mobile devices and who, like some individuals with mobility impairments, rely on a keyboard instead of a mouse for navigation.

The W3C is an international community that develops open standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web. The Web Accessibility Initiative is a program of the W3C that works with site owners, developers, people with disabilities and other interested parties to develop accessibility standards.

Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway operates 1,406 stores in the United States.