WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

WAI ARIA needs keyboard support to manage keyboard focus

for

From: Gunderson, Jon R
Date: Jul 30, 2012 7:41AM

Probably the biggest issue with any widget (including combo box) is
managing focus through the keyboard.

Without keyboard support for managing keyboard focus with widgets the aria
markup is useless.

The WAI 1.0 Authoring Practices provides information on the type of
keyboard support needed for different types of widgets:

http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices/#aria_ex


Jon

On 7/30/12 8:08 AM, "Gunderson, Jon R" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

>Do NOT added aria-live to the combobox.
>
>Here are examples of aria enabled comboboxes.
>
>1. http://hanshillen.github.com/jqtest/#goto_autocomplete
>
>2. http://oaa-accessibility.org/examples/role/77/
>
>Jon
>
>
>
>On 7/30/12 4:42 AM, "Steve Green" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
>>I don't think you need any ARIA markup for this. We have tested this type
>>of
>>functionality with screen reader users several times and they have always
>>been able to understand what is happening. The article you mentioned
>>acknowledges that it is necessary for the user to have this
>>understanding.
>>If they don't, then the ARIA won't help them. If they do, our experience
>>suggests that they don't need the ARIA.
>>
>>Steve Green
>>Test Partners Ltd
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
>>[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Nancy Johnson
>>Sent: 27 July 2012 14:26
>>To: WebAIM Discussion List
>>Subject: [WebAIM] WAI ARIA help.. select boxes that are populated via
>>AJAX
>>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I am still a newbie to WAI-ARIA and wondering if anyone can help me with
>>the
>>following:
>>
>>We are updating our search functionality on our live site and will be
>>calling data via AJAX. in the following way:
>>
>>When a user comes to a search page, there will be two or three select
>>boxes
>>with only the first select input be enabled.
>>
>>1. The user picks an entry in the first select box.
>>2. This enables the second box and populates it via AJAX based on the
>>selection in the first box.
>>3. The third box is Optional, but it will be populated based on the
>>first
>>and second selection via AJAX
>>
>>I understand from the backend developers, they are going use an onChange
>>event to make the changes
>>
>>For accessibility, do we need to add WAI-ARIA live regions to the <select
>>input?
>>I found this online. Would this be an answer for what I need?
>>http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11350634/how-to-create-fully-accessibl
>>e
>>-n
>>ested-dropdown-lists-using-wai-aria
>>
>>Can someone explain or point me to good references with good set of
>>demos
>>or samples?
>>
>>Thank you
>>Nancy Johnson
>>>>>>messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
>>
>>>>>>>
>>>