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Re: mouseover/hover and keyboard accessible expandablemenu?

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From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Nov 6, 2009 2:05PM

Chuck,
That is not a correct statement. Flash content can be read by many screen readers.

Thanks,
AWK

Andrew Kirkpatrick

Senior Product Manager, Accessibility

Adobe Systems

<EMAIL REMOVED>


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of <EMAIL REMOVED>
Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 3:52 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] mouseover/hover and keyboard accessible expandablemenu?

Yes, this can sometimes be an issue. The real issue depends on how items are
labeled and the use of text appearing in an image or in Flash format as is
done on many marketing or internet survey sites. Of course, images or Flash
format is not readable by any screen reader.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jason Megginson" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "'WebAIM Discussion List'" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:44 PM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] mouseover/hover and keyboard accessible
expandablemenu?


> Hi Chuck,
>
> In regards to the arrow keys, there may be no difficulty with navigating
> this way as long as the menu items are inline with the parent link.
>
> The example at HTML Dog provides a good example of this (sidebar: I also
> like the list structure to denote hierarchy):
> http://htmldog.com/articles/suckerfish/dropdowns/example/vertical.html
>
> The child links are inline with the parent link in the source code in this
> example. Screen readers like JAWS (virtual cursor) will read the content
> in the order it appears in the source code.
>
> When developers use CSS to display the sub-menu items, the content should
> appear inline with the parent link(s). I have seen where developers place
> the menu items at the end of the source code and position it visually in
> the correct place. A user navigating with arrow keys will not be able to
> identify the content because it is virtually at the end of the page.
>
> I often recommend sighted testers to disable styles on the page (FireFox)
> and inspect where the dynamic content appears. If the content appears
> disjointed, that's how users in Virtual Cursor mode (JAWS) will access the
> information.
>
> Thanks
> Jason
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 3:19 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] mouseover/hover and keyboard accessible
> expandablemenu?
>
> As a screen reader drop down menus are accessible with the use of the up
> and
> down arrow keys. There is no difficulty when this format is used.
> Chuck
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jared Smith" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:49 AM
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] mouseover/hover and keyboard accessible
> expandablemenu?
>
>
>> On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 10:27 AM, < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>
>>> You build the stairs,
>>> and you build the elevator, and then you let the person who uses
>>> a wheelchair DECIDE how she wants to get upstairs.
>>
>> Agreed, but it often does not work this way with web accessibility. A
>> web developer must make decisions and those decisions are usually
>> forced upon the site visitors. If you provide really bad alternative
>> text, it WILL be read by screen readers. If you try to make your
>> complex drop-down menu accessible, keyboard-only and screen reader
>> users WILL interact with your attempts at accessibility and will
>> likely have a frustrating experience.
>>
>> I am curious though, how you typically interact with such menus using
>> only your keyboard. Have you found them to generally be accessible? If
>> so, how do they work? Any examples of good ones? Have you found a
>> universal convention to making them keyboard accessible? Do you think
>> they could be made accessible to someone that cannot see them?
>>
>> Jared
>>