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Re: alternative to use of onChange in select menus

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From: Michael.Moore@dars.state.tx.us
Date: Jun 9, 2011 9:30AM

Actually, when I have had the opportunity to do user testing people using the keyboard almost always just use the down arrow when they encounter a select box. Thus the reason for not using onChange as a best practice. But if you are performing a 508 compliance audit the existence of an onChange on a select box does not make the select box non-compliant. If you can get them to add the go button, great! If not, it's not worth losing sleep over.

Michael Moore
(512) 424-4159


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Angela French
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 9:44 AM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] alternative to use of onChange in select menus

Michael - leave it to a sighted person (me), to not know how to use their keyboard. So would you say that most keyboard and screen reader users would presumably know more than I did and would be able to successfully make a selection from my QuickLinks list, and it's not something I need to change? Would others concur?

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of <EMAIL REMOVED>
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 5:48 AM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] alternative to use of onChange in select menus

Use of onChange on a dropdown menu is certainly not a best practice for accessibility, but it is not a drop dead barrier either. Screen reader and other keyboard users can use the dropdown if they open it with alt+down arrow, then move to their selection and tab out of the control. The problem occurs if they simply try to use the down arrow without opening the control. Some folks argue that these folks are simply not using their keyboards correctly.

Michael Moore


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Angela French
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 5:47 PM
To: 'WebAim Forum ( <EMAIL REMOVED> )'
Subject: [WebAIM] alternative to use of onChange in select menus

I am exploring options to reworking the functionality of the Quicklinks select (drop down) menu found in top of our global banner on this site:
http://www.sbctc.edu/index.aspx . It relies on the JavaScript onChange event which makes it unusable to either screen readers or keyboard users (correct me please if I am wrong).

Does anyone have an example URL they might direct me to of an alternative to this approach?

Thank you,

Angela French
Internet Specialist
State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
360-704-4316
<EMAIL REMOVED>
http://www.checkoutacollege.com<;http://www.checkoutacollege.com/>;