Book excerpts:

Most of the time, people relate accessibility with boring and un-pretty sites, a myth borne out by oldschool accessibility advocates, whose hostility to visual appeal is barely suppressed. Neither camp has its head screwed on right. It's not either-or; it's both-and.

What we really want is nothing less than spectacular graphic design, intelligent, well-tested usability, high-calibre writing with typography to match, top-flight photography and illustration, and resolute cleverness. Not to forget standards compliance, with old, incompatible browsers. All this while aiming for the highest practicable accessibility standards.

This book refuses to advocate the unnecessary compromise of visual sophistication for accessibility. And yet, it will not advocate the compromise of accessibility for visual sophistication, either. As you will see, appearance need not come at the wholesale expense of access, or vice-versa.

The only way to get into this - which is everything at once: full-on design with full-on accessibility - is to learn how to do the latter. This book won't teach you to be a better designer or programmer, but it can and will teach you top-notch accessibility skills. As for the other half of the goal: Once you?re finished with this book, it may be time to upgrade your design and programming skills to match your newfound mastery of accessibility. This book is all about raising the bar.