Finding your way:

Accessible Web Page Design:
Are Bilingual Pages Accessible?

No. In general, if you must present information in both official languages, I strongly recommend having separate pages for English and French (or whatever). The problems here are a combination of what was described in the section on "Making Columns Accessible" and the fact that there are no screen-reader / voice synthesizer systems that can automatically detect and switch between different languages.

Example: Bilingual text in parallel-style columns.

Using the HTML 3.0 TABLE construct, it is possible to create columns of text. In this 2-column example, each paragraph on the left corresponds to the paragraph on the right. (View the source code to see how this example is constructed).

How does your BROWSER display this example?

If you do not see two columns of text, then you are not using an HTML 3.0 compliant browser. The above example would look like this:

The Adaptive Computer Technology Centre. Le Centre de technologie informatique adaptée. Adaptive computer technology enables computing access by compensating for visual, mobility, or sensory impairments. La technologie informatique adaptée permet aux personnes handicapées d'accéder - des systèmes informatiques en surmontant les handicaps visuel, de mobilit‚ réduite ou sensoriel. The ACT Centre provides services promoting the effective implementation of adaptive computer technology tools. Le Centre de TIA dispense des services favorisant la mise en place efficace d'outils de technologie informatique adaptée.

How does your SCREEN READER read the first example?

If you are using a text-only browser like LYNX, or if you are using an HTML 2.0 compliant graphical browser, this page should be read as if it was one long paragraph of text, with the first paragraph of the first column followed by the first paragraph of the second column, and so on. This would be confusing to everyone, but for a person using a screen reader, it would be annoying. Annoying because while there are English screen readers, and French screen readers, there are no bilingual screen readers. With an English system, the French would be rendered unintelligible by the English voice synthesizer, and vice versa.

If you are using an HTML 3.0 compliant browser, you may hear:

The Adaptive Computer Technology Centre. Le Centre de technologie informatique adaptée.
Adaptive computer technology enables computing La technologie informatique adaptée permet aux personnes
access by compensating for visual, mobility, or handicapées d'accéder - des systèmes informatiques en surmontant

and so on, reading line-by-line, straight across the page. This is clearly unacceptable.

Finding your way.

Are Forms Accessible?
HTML Alternatives for JAVA™ Applets.