The Web isn't for everyone ... yet. While HTML wasn't designed to help people with disabilities read Web pages, mattmarg discovers new developments may make it easier for everyone to get the Web.
He looks at how the trend of separating content from layout, coupled with the World Wide Web Consortium - the Web's leading standards body - may make the Web a friendlier place. These efforts are paving the way for nonstandard browsers and devices like screen readers, which take code intended for a monitor and send it to a speech synthesizer, or a refreshable Braille display.
What else can you do to make your pages universally readable? Make sure that every page has text navigation for browsers which don't read images and image maps, include keyboard-only navigation, and don't forget that alt text. Mattmarg also looks at US laws governing accessibility and how they relate to the Internet.
The series finishes up with a glimpse of the future as mattmarg examines how specific stylesheets implementations - in combination with next-generation HTML 4.0 - will let you create Web sites for all.
