Using Context to Support Effective Application of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed guidelines to support the creating of Web content that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of disability. Yet without considering the context in which a Web site will be used, a purely guideline-based approach may leave levels of accessibility and usability to disabled people disappointingly low. A reliance on end-user adoption of appropriate browsing technology and author adoption of appropriate authoring tools may also prevent effective accessible design, while inappropriate reference to guidelines in policy and legislation may also lead to problems.