Weekly Platform News: CSS column-span Property, ADA applies to Websites, Auto-generated Image Descriptions

This week's web development news highlights significant advancements in accessibility and CSS: widespread support for column-span, the ongoing impact of ADA compliance on websites, and Google's initiative to automatically generate image descriptions.

CSS column-span Gains Broad Support

The column-span CSS property, already supported by Chrome and Safari (since 2010) and Internet Explorer (since 2012), is finally arriving in Firefox version 71 (December release). This allows elements to span multiple columns in multi-column layouts. For example:

article {
  column-count: 2;
}

h2 {
  column-span: all;
}

This code makes headings span both columns.

(Source: Ting-Yu Lin)

ADA Compliance and Website Accessibility

In the US, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates website accessibility. Retailers face potential lawsuits for inaccessible websites. The Supreme Court's recent rejection of Domino's Pizza's appeal underscores this, restarting a lawsuit concerning screen reader compatibility. The plaintiff, a blind individual, argued inability to order online due to lacking software support, citing the ADA's guarantee of "full and equal enjoyment" of services.

(Source: David G. Savage)

Google Auto-Generates Image Descriptions in Chrome

Chrome, when used with VoiceOver, now automatically generates alt text for images lacking it. Google has already generated over 10 million descriptions, but stresses these are supplementary and don't replace human-written alt text, which provides richer context. This "Accessibility Image Descriptions" feature might require manual activation via chrome://flags.

(Source: Dominic Mazzoni)

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