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Any web developer who has created a reasonably complex form is probably aware of the concept of multiple select elements that are connected – choosing something from one select box either makes a new select box appear or changes the options of one that is already visible. There are usually two problems with this approach. One is that most implementations are completely dependent on JavaScript being available. Often there either is no submit button at all, or there is a submit button but without JavaScript there is no way to access the options that appear only as a result of changing the first select box. The other problem is that in some browsers, using the cursor keys to change the selected option triggers the onchange event immediately, so you can never get past the first option unless you know how to use your keyboard to display all options. I normally work around these problems by requiring users to submit the form to get the next set of options from the server. Obviously that isn’t an ideal solution either. So what other options do we have? One option that looks promising is described by Christian Heilmann in Unobtrusive connected select boxes - yet another solution approach. It involves using optgroup elements to create a two-level select box, which is then split into two separate select boxes if JavaScript is available. Neat. The solution Chris describes solves (or at least mitigates) the keyboard access problem since it doesn’t reload the page when the onchange event is triggered. And if JavaScript is unavailable, there is a single select box with option groups. The catch is that nested optgroup elements are not allowed in current versions of HTML, so this will not work when more than two connected select boxes are needed. Nested optgroup elements are allowed in the current Web Forms 2.0 Working Draft, so I guess there is a reasonable chance of that change making it into HTML 5.

The BBC has developed a script called Betsie, which will convert pages to plain HTML.

There can be a fine line between enabling and excluding technology. All it takes is some careless HTML, the addition of a few unsupported images and some multimedia frills, and entire web sites can disappear from view for substantial numbers of users.

There's been widespread speculation about the new legislation being introduced under the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act), which will ensure that websites are accessible to blind and disabled users. Try to find specific information about it on the Internet and chances are you'll come up empty handed.The RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and the DRC (Disability Rights Commission), two of the most renowned advocates for the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) and accessible websites, have no specific information about the laws and what websites specifically need to do in order to meet the legal requirements.

2.2 (p7): "The Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public."

4.7 (p39): "From 1st October 1999 a service provider has to take reasonable steps to change a practice which makes it unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of its services."

As stated by renowned accessibility expert Shawn Lawton Hewitt, Web Accessibility simply means that people with disabilities can use the Web.  More specifically, Web Accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with the Web.

It is important to understand one aspect that most experts agree on – an individual web site can never be perfectly accessible to everybody. This has to do with the sheer diversity of disabilities as well as the potential overlap of multiple disabilities. But a systematic approach like implementing the WCAG guidelines can go long way in accommodating a very large number of people.