Application Programming Interface
An API is a standardized way in which two pieces of software can interact with each other. APIs are usually well documented and offer an interface to request functionality or data. There are API standards and many pieces of software or platforms offer APIs.
APIs become very relevant within the context of assistive technologies. They offer the chance to access a piece of software in ways the original developers and designers didn’t forsee.
Technologies work together to extract accessibility information from a web interface and appropriately present it to the user. If appropriate content semantics are not available, then assistive technologies will use old and unreliable techniques to make the interface usable. A big part of accessibility is, therefore, an easily met responsibility of web developers.