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Re: Auto-focusing form fields

for

From: Spruill Kevin
Date: Apr 18, 2007 12:30PM

"One of my colleagues is sceptical and wants more proof (i.e. whether it
is indeed a problem, and which screen readers this applies to)."

Ummmmmm... Yes - it is potential problem - as noted in your explanation,
if the error message is passed over by the auto focus, it really isn't
being presented to the screenreader users.

I would presume this is an issue with all screen readers.

Kevin Spruill
IT Specialist
Information Resources Accessibility Program
OS:CIO:ES:BI:CS:IRAP:IT
Phone: (202) 283-7059
IRAP Web site: http://irap.web.irs.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Beadle [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 9:28 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] Auto-focusing form fields

Hello all,

We've just had an accessibility audit done on one of our sites:
http://medicalphysicsweb.org/

One of the recommendations made was that we remove the JavaScript that
auto focuses the first (or first with an error) field in a form, as it
causes screen readers to skip past the error text, which is
unfortunately displayed before the start of the form itself.

One of my colleagues is sceptical and wants more proof (i.e. whether it
is indeed a problem, and which screen readers this applies to).

Can anyone shed any more light?

Thanks,

Tim