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Re: Accessible jQuery UI DatePicker

for

From: Bryan Garaventa
Date: Sep 30, 2013 11:33AM

Thanks for the heads up about the bug, does this happen on a particular
keystroke? I'm not able to reproduce it.

When you tab out of the calendar it disappears and sets focus back to the
triggering element. Is this what you are referring to?

I set it to do this so that, when keyboard users tab out of the calendar,
having focus move to the next active element in the tab order is typically
behind the overlay, making it unclear where visual focus is. So, by having
the calendar disappear when you press Tab, it makes it clear where focus is
at all times visually.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alastair Campbell" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessible jQuery UI DatePicker


> Bryan Garaventa wrote:
>
>> Out of curiosity, did you encounter the same level of difficulty at
>>
>> http://whatsock.com/tsg/Coding%20Arena/ARIA%20Date%20Pickers/ARIA%20Date%20Picker%20(Basic)/demo.htm
>
>
> I hadn't tried that, it looks much more robust in terms of keyboard
> commands, although at the moment there appears to be a bug where it
> disappears on keyup? I don't think it's my setup, I tried it in
> Chrome/FF/IE10.
>
> It would be a good one to usability-test in situ, I wonder if people would
> understand how to use it without instructions? Not that there is anything
> wrong with the choices, but just that people will not have come across an
> accessible date-picker before (1st-mover disadvantage!)
>
>
>
>> Back to the jQuery UI date picker, if the only way to overcome in-built
>> accessibility issues is to recommend that people just type the date in
>> manually, then it defeats the purpose of an accessible date picker.
>>
>
> Agreed, but I wouldn't pitch it as an accessible date-picker, but an
> accessible date form-control. I.e. the date-picker is a usability
> enhancement that doesn't get in the way. (Worth noting that one of the
> options in the jQuery UI version is to disable keyboard entry into the
> form-field, which is definitely in-accessible!)
>
>
> It's not a good accessibility solution to simply state that disabled
> people
>> should just figure it out on their own.
>
>
> In some cases, booking holidays comes to mind. But not all cases, e.g.
> date
> of birth. That could involved pressing many, many buttons depending on how
> old you are! Compared to typing in a date you know very well.
>
> There seems to be two steps here:
> 1. Don't block people from typing in the date.
> 2. If useful, make the date-picker itself accessible.
>
> Glad to hear the jQuery UI one is getting a re-write.
>
> -Alastair
> > >