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Re: Section 508 1194.22(p)

for

From: Terence de Giere
Date: Mar 17, 2002 11:57AM

After reading through Paul Bohman's response to this issue of time-outs,
I noticed that the 508 rules specify the user shall be alerted, but they
do not specify exactly how or when the user should be alerted(1)(2), and
this should provide a simple solution.

First, at the beginning of the form, provide a static message to the
user that the form will time-out after whatever specified period is
chosen. Provide a second submit button with a value like "More Time to
Finish Form". Tell the user in the message that if they feel they cannot
finish the form in the required period of time, they can select this
button at any time and the time-out will be reset to the full time-out
period, or perhaps extend the period by a certain amount of time. Place
the button at the end of the message so they will know where it is if
they continue to move further on in the page.


When the form is submitted using this time extension button the server
applet can process the data, not for final processing, but to create a
page sent back to the user populated with the data he/she has already
entered, with the full time-out period available or a time extension.
Consult with your programmers which might be easier to implement with
the available languages and software used on your servers.

There a many ways a server side program could process such a form to
provide the desired results, it just needs to be able to distinguish
between the two buttons and process the form accordingly. For a sample
of a form with two submit buttons that have different results there is a
simple example at
http://www.web-savant.com/users/kathi/asp/samples/tut/2_Submit_Buttons.asp

There are a lot of possible variations on how this might be done, and
only usability testing would determine which was most successful. You
need to choose whether to renew the time-out period or extend it
directly, and how to word this so the user understands what will happen
when the button is selected and activated. Because actively informing
the user the time is running out is not likely to be accessible to all
users, just make it clear that the user needs to keep track of the time,
and they need to use the special submit button to get more time. By
informing the user about the time-out at the beginning of the form, they
have have almost the full time-out period to indicate they will need
more time.

(1) From the Section 508 rules discussion:
Paragraph (p) addresses the accessibility problems that can occur if a
web page times-out while a user is completing a form. Web pages can be
designed with scripts so that the web page disappears or "expires" if a
response is not received within a specified amount of time. Sometimes,
this technique is used for security reasons or to reduce the demands on
the computer serving the web pages. A disability can have a direct
impact on the speed with which a person can read, move around, or fill
in a web form. For this reason, when a timed response is required, the
user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate that
additional time is necessary. (See