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use of <pre> tag

for

From: Julie Dodd
Date: Nov 4, 2010 4:00PM

Hello,

I'm new to the list, so here's a *brief* introduction...

My name is Julie and I'm a user interface designer who also is
responsible for accessibility compliances (yes, many hats).

Quick question:
Is the use of the <pre> tag for presenting (non tabular data) content
accessible?

Under the WCAG 2.0 Guideline 1.3 (http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref/Overview.php#qr-content-structure-separation-programmatic
), Info and Relationships, there are sufficient techniques for txt
documents. Does this apply to plain text presented in an HTML document
using the <pre> tag?

I have many documents (quite lengthy legal documents) that are
currently being presented in this manner. I know the content would be
more navigable using semantic markup, but is it *required*?

Thank you,
Julie