Chapter Fourteen: Accessibility: The Soul of Web Standards

This chapter’s title is not fanciful or exaggerated. Accessibility is at the very core of standards-based design. Like semantic markup and CSS layout, the goal of accessible (or “universal”) design is to make sure your content can be read, and your site can be used, by everyone—no matter what device they browse with, and regardless of physical ability. Wrongly perceived as dull and dismal, accessibility is actually where much of today’s innovation is going on. If you enjoy browsing the web on your iPhone, for instance, thank the key technology that makes its interface possible: screen magnification, developed first as an aid to accessibility.

Accessibility is so closely linked ...

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