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RE: Cookies

for

From: Shane Anderson
Date: Sep 25, 2000 5:23PM

Hello,
A few weeks ago I posted the following question.
>I have a question about cookies. I have heard that they should not be used
>in order to have an accessible website. However, I have not been able to
>find anything at the WAI on this subject. Can anyone lead me to information
>on the subject of cookies and accessibility, and how they are linked?
In case anyone else had heard this and was wondering, the following responses
are from the WAI-IG listserve:
>I think the main problem is that not all browsers out there support
>cookies -- older versions of Lynx, for example, and some early web
>browsers for people with visual disabilities, have no support for
>cookies.
>
>However, it should be pointed out that this is a limitation of old
>technology more than it really is an actual accessibility hurdle.
>Cookies themselves are just one technology which isn't inherently
>inaccessible -or- accessible.
>
>Any site which uses cookies should also account for the fact that
>cookies can be turned off, deleted, unsaved, rejected, or otherwise
>not use "as desired" -- regardless of whether or not the user is a
>person with a disability. As such, a well-planned site has alternate
>options to cookies available when required.
>
>--Kynn
>
>--
>Kynn Bartlett < <EMAIL REMOVED> > http://kynn.com/
>Director of Accessibility, Edapta http://www.edapta.com/
>Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain Internet http://www.idyllmtn.com/
>AWARE Center Director http://www.awarecenter.org/
AND:
>Someone may have said that long ago, before Lynx began supporting cookies,
>but it's not a valid accessibility criterion today.
>Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Staff Engineer
>National Library Service f/t Blind and Physically Handicapped
>Library of Congress (202) 707-0535 < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
><http://www.loc.gov/nls/>;
>HOME: < <EMAIL REMOVED> > <http://lras.home.sprynet.com