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RE: Reading OPTGROUP with JAWS

for

From: Paul Bohman
Date: Apr 17, 2002 11:14AM

Oh, and as for alternative methods of encoding the information, the
options are relatively few and not ideal, but here's one idea:

Create imitation optgroups by putting two dashes, then a category
heading. Something like this:

--Cheeses--
swiss
american
bleu cheese
--Beverages--
grape juice
orange juice
milk

etc.

Screen readers will be able to read this, and, if users figure out the
dashes methodology, they will be able to use the dash key to navigate
between these sections, but it won't be immediately apparent what your
strategy is, so it isn't as good as the real optgroup tag would be.
Still, it's something.

The other option would be to break up the list into smaller lists.

You could make the dashed entries "unclickable", with no link
destination, or you could prepare a link destination for each of the
groups, which would then have the sub-groups available as links.

Actually, that's another option, perhaps. You could make bulleted lists
with headers. Depending on the setup that you have, this may work.

Paul Bohman
Technology Coordinator
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
www.webaim.org
Center for Persons with Disabilities
www.cpd.usu.edu
Utah State University
www.usu.edu