cmarshall - 8:59 pm on Jun 26, 2007 (gmt 0)

I have this really kewl site. It will have all kinds of AJAX bells and whistles, etc.

I have a second path for browsers that can't handle AJAX or have scripting disabled. This path offers an experience almost as good as the fancy one, but without things like Google Maps and the all-important throbber.

What I want to know is if there is a way to ensure that screen readers always get sent down the non-AJAX path. From the various discussions here, it looks like screen readers bravely try to render AJAX, and fall down.

As I said, I've tested without any bells and whistles, scripting disabled, old browsers, etc. They all get sent down the non-AJAX primrose path.

However, I would be crushed if my disabled users tried to go down the fancy (non-accessible) path.

Is there some capability or UA flag that I can use to detect screen readers as a general category?

I also have the capability of generating RSS and WML pages (I use XSLT), so it may even be better to send them that ways.

Is there an accept-type or something I can use?