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i.e. - For those who cannot hear, I know that text within <h1> tags will be
emphazied if a user is using any one of those page reader softwares. I would like
to learn more about any tags that can be benefial for the impaired.
For example, instead of <i> you should use the following:
<em>...</em> for text that will actually be emphasized in speech (as in: "Not <em>my</em> left, I meant <em>your</em> left!").
<dfn>...</dfn> when you are using a term in a sentence that actually defines it -- here, a different kind of emphasis is needed (as in: A <dfn>singleton tag</dfn> is a tag that does not require an end tag).
<var>...</var> to indicate variable text which will in reality be substituted for an actual value (as in: To copy a file, type <code>COPY <var>filename</var></code>).
<cite>...</cite> for titles of publications (as in: She quoted <cite>Hamlet</cite>).
Style sheet controls for just about anything else. (You can use <i> for this in HTML and XHTML 1.0 -- it's not deprecated but discouraged.) For example, foreign words and phrases should be in italics. In pure HTML you can use this: He reclined on the <i lang="fr">chaise longue</i>. With XHTML 2 and CSS-2 you should be able to put this is your stylesheet:
*[lang="fr"] { font-style: italic; }
...which will italicise any element with lang="fr" as an attribute.
A nice article giving points on how to make your site more accessible.
Also, The Clock is Ticking [alistapart.com]
Accessibility is going to be the top priority for every Federal government webmaster in the new Millenium. State and Local Governments that do not already have rules for websites, will be adopting them real soon.