encyclo - 2:55 am on Jul 13, 2007 (gmt 0)

I'm not sure I can adhere to the philosophy as mentioned above, at least not completely. To the part referring to "If a browser or adaptive technology can handle an accessibility issue", I agree for the most part: when the tools are available, there is a definite onus on the end user to get informed and start using those tools. Unless your site is about accessibility or the tools themselves, it is not your responsibility to do the educating.

Where I start to disagree is with the "or should handle an accessibility issue" part - I don't think this is a viable option in many cases. The risk is that suggesting this approach is the equivalent of passing the blame to the tools. Your site uses eight-deep nested tables? Well, it's the screenreader's job to work out what the content is.

So, what steps are vital from the webmaster to improve accessibility, and what part can be left to the user agent and user?