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Thread: DHTML accessibility
Number of posts in this thread: 7 (In chronological order)
From: Debbie Charles
Date: Thu, Jul 06 2006 11:30AM
Subject: DHTML accessibility
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Hi all,
I had a programmer send the following. I am not familiar with DHTML. Can
anyone advise as to how accessible it could be?
I'm considering whether to use DHTML generated drop down menus for
navigation. Are these considered "accessible"? Here's a product which
claims to produce accessible code:
http://www.udm4.com/menu/
thanks,
Debbie
From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Thu, Jul 06 2006 11:40AM
Subject: Re: DHTML accessibility
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Debbie Charles wrote:
> I had a programmer send the following. I am not familiar with DHTML. Can
> anyone advise as to how accessible it could be?
> I'm considering whether to use DHTML generated drop down menus for
> navigation. Are these considered "accessible"? Here's a product which
> claims to produce accessible code:
>
> http://www.udm4.com/menu/
James "Brothercake" Edwards's UDM is, last time I checked, one of the
most accessible ones around.
As a side note: nowadays, the more preferred term for
standards-compliant javascript manipulation of pages is "DOM scripting"
(as DHTML has connotations of the bad old days of code forking for
browsers and document.write).
P
--
Patrick H. Lauke
___________
re
From: Austin, Darrel
Date: Thu, Jul 06 2006 12:00PM
Subject: RE: DHTML accessibility
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> I'm considering whether to use DHTML generated drop down
> menus for navigation. Are these considered "accessible"?
> Here's a product which claims to produce accessible code:
>
> http://www.udm4.com/menu/
This is a debate that comes up quite routinely it seems.
IMHO, drop-down/fly-out is usually less than ideal for all users, though
there are cases where it's warranted...often in an intranet setting
where people are initimately familiar with the menu structure already.
*If* you have to use fly-out menus, UDM4 is about as accessible as one
can make them.
Here's some more info/opinion:
http://mnteractive.com/archive/hangover-fly-out-navigation-part-ii/
-Darrel
From: Al Sparber
Date: Thu, Jul 06 2006 12:10PM
Subject: Re: DHTML accessibility
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From: "Patrick H. Lauke" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> As a side note: nowadays, the more preferred term for
> standards-compliant javascript manipulation of pages is "DOM
> scripting" (as DHTML has connotations of the bad old days of code
> forking for browsers and document.write).
I knew there was a reason, since both terms are absurdly afflicted
with techno babble-itis ;-)
--
Al Sparber
PVII
http://www.projectseven.com
"Designing with CSS is sometimes like barreling down a crumbling
mountain road at 90 miles per hour secure in the knowledge that
repairs are scheduled for next Tuesday".
From: Moore, Michael
Date: Thu, Jul 06 2006 12:50PM
Subject: RE: DHTML accessibility
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Debbie wrote:
<blockquote>
I had a programmer send the following. I am not familiar with DHTML. Can
anyone advise as to how accessible it could be?
I'm considering whether to use DHTML generated drop down menus for
navigation. Are these considered "accessible"? Here's a product which
claims to produce accessible code:
http://www.udm4.com/menu/
thanks,
Debbie
</blockquote>
Debbie, last year I tested a couple of sites that used the UDM4 tool to
create accessible drop down menus and I was impressed by the results.
The menus worked fine using just the keyboard for operation and
functioned well when using JAWS.
One concern that I do have with the use of dynamic menus is for screen
magnifier users. It is very easy to accidentally trigger the menu and
cover content when using a screen magnifier (e.g. ZoomText). I
recommend providing a buffer area between the edge of the content and
the top level menu to improve things for those users. See James'
default horizontal example
http://www.udm4.com/demos/horizontal-absolute-top-left.php He leaves a
good amount of blank space between the navigation items and the start of
the content.
Mike
From: Joshue O Connor
Date: Fri, Jul 07 2006 3:10AM
Subject: Re: DHTML accessibility
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> One concern that I do have with the use of dynamic menus is for screen
> magnifier users. It is very easy to accidentally trigger the menu and
> cover content when using a screen magnifier (e.g. ZoomText).
I agree. Another thing to be aware of is that if the menu contains a *lot* of options,
and other nested drop downs, they can easily obscure content on the page. I have seen
lots of examples where a cull on the amount of items stuffed into the menu would have been
a great idea, as they can be very awkward/fiddly for older people and those with limited mobility.
Josh
Moore, Michael wrote:
> Debbie wrote:
>
> <blockquote>
> I had a programmer send the following. I am not familiar with DHTML. Can
> anyone advise as to how accessible it could be?
>
> I'm considering whether to use DHTML generated drop down menus for
> navigation. Are these considered "accessible"? Here's a product which
> claims to produce accessible code:
>
> http://www.udm4.com/menu/
> thanks,
> Debbie
> </blockquote>
>
> Debbie, last year I tested a couple of sites that used the UDM4 tool to
> create accessible drop down menus and I was impressed by the results.
> The menus worked fine using just the keyboard for operation and
> functioned well when using JAWS.
>
> One concern that I do have with the use of dynamic menus is for screen
> magnifier users. It is very easy to accidentally trigger the menu and
> cover content when using a screen magnifier (e.g. ZoomText). I
> recommend providing a buffer area between the edge of the content and
> the top level menu to improve things for those users. See James'
> default horizontal example
> http://www.udm4.com/demos/horizontal-absolute-top-left.php He leaves a
> good amount of blank space between the navigation items and the start of
> the content.
>
> Mike
>
>
>
>
>
>
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From: Debbie Pomerance
Date: Mon, Jul 10 2006 5:30PM
Subject: Re: DHTML accessibility
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On 7/7/06, Joshue O Connor < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> > One concern that I do have with the use of dynamic menus is for screen
> > magnifier users. It is very easy to accidentally trigger the menu and
> > cover content when using a screen magnifier (e.g. ZoomText).
Coming to you from both the web world and the accessibility-challenged world
- I want to give my feedback as well.
I am a neophyte web designer and a Zoomtext 1.75-2.x magnification user -
and I have to admit that i frequently have problems with sites that use drop
down menus.
Oftentimes i have to pan my screen far to the right just to be able to get
to the drop down from the drop down menu I want to click on - and then I
accidentally drop it and I have to start over. Or I do the above but since
I have panned over so much I can't see the part of the screen I need to look
at while choosing the menu., etc., ad infinitum. There are many such
scenario examples I could mention.
My assumption is that people who use drop down menus don't realize that some
of the people using the site can't see the whole screen at one time.
Debbie P.
--
Debbie Pomerance
mailto = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Microsoft: "You've got questions.
We've got dancing paperclips."