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From: Shane Anderson
Date: Tue, Sep 05 2000 2:54PM
Subject: Cookies
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Hello,
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?
Shane Anderson

From: Shane Anderson
Date: Mon, Sep 25 2000 5:23PM
Subject: RE: Cookies
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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 ADDRESS 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 ADDRESS REMOVED = >
><http://www.loc.gov/nls/>;
>HOME: < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > <http://lras.home.sprynet.com