accessibility supported

  supported by users' assistive technologies as well as the accessibility features in browsers and other user agents

  To qualify as an accessibility-supported use of a web content technology (or feature of a technology), both 1 and 2 must be satisfied for a web content technology (or feature):

  1. The way that the web content technology is used must be supported by users' assistive technology (AT). This means that the way that the technology is used has been tested for interoperability with users' assistive technology in the human language(s) of the content,

     AND

  2. The web content technology must have accessibility-supported user agents that are available to users. This means that at least one of the following four statements is true:

     1. The technology is supported natively in widely-distributed user agents that are also accessibility supported (such as HTML and CSS);

        OR

     2. The technology is supported in a widely-distributed plug-in that is also accessibility supported;

        OR

     3. The content is available in a closed environment, such as a university or corporate network, where the user agent required by the technology and used by the organization is also accessibility supported;

        OR

     4. The user agent(s) that support the technology are accessibility supported and are available for download or purchase in a way that:

        - does not cost a person with a disability any more than a person without a disability and
        - is as easy to find and obtain for a person with a disability as it is for a person without disabilities.

  The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group and the W3C do not specify which or how much support by assistive technologies there must be for a particular use of a web technology in order for it to be classified as accessibility supported. (See Level of Assistive Technology Support Needed for "Accessibility Support".)

  Web technologies can be used in ways that are not accessibility supported as long as they are not relied upon and the page as a whole meets the conformance requirements, including Conformance Requirement 4 and Conformance Requirement 5.

  When a web technology is used in a way that is "accessibility supported," it does not imply that the entire technology or all uses of the technology are supported. Most technologies, including HTML, lack support for at least one feature or use. Pages conform to WCAG only if the uses of the technology that are accessibility supported can be relied upon to meet WCAG requirements.

  When citing web content technologies that have multiple versions, the version(s) supported should be specified.

  One way for authors to locate uses of a technology that are accessibility supported would be to consult compilations of uses that are documented to be accessibility supported. (See Understanding Accessibility-Supported Web Technology Uses.) Authors, companies, technology vendors, or others may document accessibility-supported ways of using web content technologies. However, all ways of using technologies in the documentation would need to meet the definition of accessibility-supported Web content technologies above.