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| Accessible website
It is fairly easy to provide examples of the types of problems people with particular impairments have on the Web, and the techniques that can be used to make a site more accessible. But a simple definition; a sentence that sums up what an accessible website is, is not quite such an easy task. An attempt at a definition is a good idea; if we are clear what an accessible website is, we will have a better idea of what we should be doing to build one. You could probably think of many definitions, each looking at the issue from a particular perspective and serving the interests of a particular audience (and of course providing valuable insights). My aim in this particular article is to try to address the issue from producer’s point of view, i.e. web designers, developers and content providers. The idea is to find a definition that serves those whose job is to publish and manage accessible web content. Hopefully we will arrive at a definition that offers practical lessons, and provides some insight into what our aims as web designers should be. In trying to formulate my ideas, I came up with four definitions that I found useful in terms of clarifying the issues, and teasing out some practical lessons. Each of these are definitions that are in common use by both advocates of accessible web design, and web developers who are not necessarily advocates but have to appear to know what they are talking about when a client asks them if do 'accessible web design'.
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