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Re: Navigation in HTML forms

for

From: David Andrews
Date: Apr 28, 2009 6:35PM

I understand what you are saying about skipping a question. However,
in an unknown site, I may not be positive about how far I will jump,
or how reliably. So, I would tend to use a more manual method for
safety reasons.

Dave

At 12:06 PM 4/28/2009, you wrote:
>I would like to thank everyone who responded to my question.
>I was expecting that you would support the use of header element in the
>survey especially in large surveys to provide a mechanism to navigate
>between questions but apparently not everyone is with me on the same page.
>
>I don't know but arrowing down in a large survey with 384 questions is not
>an option for me considering the fact that everything is linearized in the
>screen reader view and there will be a huge amount of the text to go over if
>I have to read line by line.
>
>And Dave, I don't understand when you say
> > I would tend to just down arrow quickly, as I
> > wouldn't necessarily know how far I had to go or skip.
>
>Exactly the use of header element with questions texts could help here. Just
>consider, you are reading question 4 and you decide to skip it, using your
>screen reader header navigation command, you can easily skip the question 4
>and land on the next question.
>
>As I mentioned in my original e-mail, our goal is to improve our Web Best
>Practices at http://html.cita.uiuc.edu
>I know that many developers won't follow the Best Practices but what I
>wanted to learn was indeed the use of header element with question text in a
>survey is a Best Practice and we should not confuse it with our personal
>habit.
>
>Thanks again,
>Hadi
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "David Andrews" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
>To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
>Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 5:56 PM
>Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Navigation in HTML forms
>
>
> >I am a screen reader user -- and I wouldn't tend to use header
> > navigation in surveys. This is primarily because surveys are
> > generally one off things, that is, I do it, and am done, so may not
> > be that familiar with it. That makes me less likely to use larger
> > navigation jumps -- I would tend to just down arrow quickly, as I
> > wouldn't necessarily know how far I had to go or skip.
> >
> > Dave
> >
> > At 10:37 AM 4/21/2009, you wrote:
> >>Hello,
> >>
> >>For many years we have been recommending to use fieldset/legend elements
> >>to
> >>make radio buttons and check boxes accessible. With this technique you
> >>associate each
> >>radio or checkbox item with the proper legend element so a screen reader
> >>user always knows what group of radio or checkbox items he is dealing
> >>with.
> >>so far so good.
> >>
> >>On the other hand, I have been recommending to make the question surveys a
> >>heading (h2-h6) especially in large surveys. This would allow screen
> >>reader
> >>users to navigate easily between questions and/or skip selected questions
> >>using screen reader heading navigation function.
> >>
> >>Here's the problem:
> >>
> >>Apparently, HTMl does not allow the use of header elements inside or
> >>outside
> >>the legend element so I can't not make my radio or checkbox question a
> >>heading in the form. See the question 3 and 4 at:
> >>
> >>http://illinois.edu/goto/TestSurvey
> >>
> >>If they were using ordered list for the survey questions, there wouldn't
> >>be
> >>a strong need to make the questions a heading because screen reader
> >>programs
> >>offer a good navigation mechanism for lists; question numbering is hard
> >>coded and are not coming from OL.
> >>
> >>Here's my questions and I would be thankful if you share your feedback
> >>with
> >>me and/or the group.
> >>
> >>1. How many of you in particular screen reader users use the heading
> >>navigation in a mid-size or large surveys.
> >>
> >>2. Do you consider making survey questions a heading as a Best Practice
> >>for
> >>mid-size or large HTML forms?
> >>Note that in large surveys you might need to skip one or a set of survey
> >>questions so you need a mean to easily jump over selected questions.
> >>
> >>Thanks,
> >>Hadi
> >>
> >>
> >>