Explaining the relationship between accessible tools and accessible content

I think it is relevant to explain to readers why the two seemingly
independent requirements, of (1) access to authoring tools and (2)
production of accessible content, are covered in the same document. I
remember once someone from WAI (Judy or Shawn?) explain something along
the line that only when people with disabilities can create Web content in
equal conditions will web accessibility become a reality. ATAG 1.0
contains a partial explanation, "Since the Web is both a means of
receiving information and communicating information, it is important that
both the Web content produced and the authoring tool itself be
accessible." With the current trend toward user-produced content this is
now even more true than when ATAG 1.0 was published (see Jamal's comment
[1] about Web 2.0 content). This idea of a two-way process is the clearly
(to me) the reasoning for including both requirements in the same
recommendation, but an explanation seems to be needed.

regards,

Alan Chuter,
Consultant,
Accessibility and User Experience Department,
Technosite - Fundosa group (ONCE Foundation),
Tel: 91 121 03 30
E-mail: achuter@technosite.es
www.technosite.es 

[1]
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-atag2-comments/2010Aug/0001.html

Received on Wednesday, 1 September 2010 17:09:15 UTC