DrDoc - 6:11 pm on Jul 14, 2007 (gmt 0)

Let's not detract from the point of the article (and subsequently this thread) ...

Accessibility is definitely the webmaster's/developer's/site owner's responsibility. No one is denying that. The question is just -- how far does the responsibility extend? If you are making every reasonable effort to make your site and the content thereof usable and accessible, then you have done your part (and, yes, that does include providing some form of alternate content for all important media content as well [and, yes, a textual description of the contents may suffice, provided that such description is detailed enough to highlight all the important aspects of the media content]).

It is certainly up to the user to make sure that they use the best tools available to them. A blind user is not going to visit your site using lynx. Neither is a deaf user going to use a screen reader. Let's be reasonable. But, assuming that the user uses any of these tools -- text-only browser, keyboard to navigate, screen reader, braille output, regular browser, browser with no flash or other rich media capabilities, mouse -- they should be able to access your site and its content in a normal fashion. You make your site usable and accessible. But it is up to the user to make sure they have a tool that suits their needs.

The makers of any of these tools ... Well, their responsibility lies in ensuring that they have made a tool that is as usable as possible for their target audience. Is Lynx an inaccessible user agent simply because it cannot display images? No. It's a text-only browser; and its target audience is users of text-only browsers. Is IE automatically an inaccessible user agent simply because it does not easily allow the user to resize their text? No. IE's target audience is (quite frankly) computer literate people or people without any disabilities or impairities.

It's up to you as the webmaster/developer/site owner/publisher not to design your site for a single tool. It is up to the user to use a tool that best suits their needs. And it is up to the maker of such tools to ensure that they provide the best tool possible for their target audience.

You are allowed to overlap if you so choose (take the whole "[A] [A] [A]" example) ... But no one can be expected to take 100% of the responsibility. Neither should that be your goal.

Do your part. But make sure you really do your part. And do a good job at it. That's your responsibility; and that's what the article states.