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Re: Disabled Controls and WCAG Contrast

for

From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Nov 21, 2011 9:57AM

Don,
I think that in that situation the user will essentially need to think - "hey, there's a button here but I can't read the text on it like I can other buttons in this app, and I can't seem to click on it either - it must be currently non-functional".

Re: Paul's suggestion, I don't recommend using readonly when the object is an inactive control. Read only and inactive are not equivalent. If the desire is to keep disabled controls in the tab order, then please make that comment to the HTML5 specification so browser vendors will implement the right method. I'm not sure that I agree that disabled controls should be in the tab order - as a sighted user who relies heavily on the keyboard I'd prefer that inactive controls not be in the tab order as it just adds unnecessary tab stops.

Thanks,
AWK

Andrew Kirkpatrick
Group Product Manager, Accessibility
Adobe Systems

<EMAIL REMOVED>
http://twitter.com/awkawk
http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Donald Evans
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 11:49 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Disabled Controls and WCAG Contrast

So there seems to be a bit of a disconnect. SC 1.4.3 clearly indicates "* *Text or images of text that are part of an inactive user interface component<http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-contrast.html#user-interface-componentdef>;"
are exempt from color contrast rules.

Yet, this control conveys the information that it is disabled. So we use ARIA to indicate that; we create tab stops, etc. But how is this information conveyed to the low vision magnifier user who can not discern the difference in contrast?



On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 11:39 AM, Paul Adam < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> I recommend using readonly=readonly instead of disabled=disabled
> because screen readers will skip right over a disabled form field when
> tabbing through. I've seen times where they were obviously using the
> disabled field to indicate information visually to users but wanted to
> prevent the user from editing that information. By using readonly you
> can do the same thing, prevent editing, but keep the field in the TAB order.
>
> On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 11:31 AM, Lucy Greco
> < <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >wrote:
>
> > If the link is disabled how does the screen reader know that. Have
> > you coded it in a way ware the screen reader does not speak it if
> > not you
> need
> > to somehow let everyone know it is disabled. Forget the standers and
> think
> > about usability first. If I hit this with my screen reader I would
> > try
> and
> > activate it innless you use some method to let me know otherwise.
> >
> > Lucy Greco
> > Assistive Technology Specialist
> > Disabled Student's Program UC Berkeley
> > (510) 643-7591
> > http://attlc.berkeley.edu
> > http://webaccess.berkeley.edu
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto:
> > <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Donald Evans
> > Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 8:26 AM
> > To: WebAIM Discussion List
> > Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Disabled Controls and WCAG Contrast
> >
> > I did see that, but the grayed out content does indicate disabled to
> > the sighted user. So wasn't sure it was decoration?
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 11:24 AM, Andrew Kirkpatrick
> > < <EMAIL REMOVED>
> > >wrote:
> >
> > > No - see 1.4.3:
> > >
> > > " Incidental: Text or images of text that are part of an inactive
> > > user interface component, that are pure decoration, that are not
> > > visible to anyone, or that are part of a picture that contains
> > > significant other visual content, have no contrast requirement."
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > AWK
> > >
> > > Andrew Kirkpatrick
> > > Group Product Manager, Accessibility Adobe Systems
> > >
> > > <EMAIL REMOVED>
> > > http://twitter.com/awkawk
> > > http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto:
> > > <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Donald Evans
> > > Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 11:22 AM
> > > To: WebAIM Discussion List
> > > Subject: [WebAIM] Disabled Controls and WCAG Contrast
> > >
> > > Do disabled controls (grayed out to indicate disabled) have to
> > > meet WCAG SC 1.4.3?
> > >
> > > --
> > > Donald F. Evans,
> > > Making Websites Accessible
> > > Senior Accessibility Architect
> > > Deque Systems
> > > Email: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> > > Download FireEyes Free:
> > > http://www.deque.com/products/worldspace-fireeyes
> > >
> > > <http://www.deque.com>;
> > >