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Re: alternative to use of onChange in select menus

for

From: Michael.Moore@dars.state.tx.us
Date: Jun 9, 2011 10:09AM

I am simply saying that there is a difference between advocating for the use of best practices and arguing for standards compliance. When working with contracted vendors particularly, and even at times working with in-house development groups it does not help my cause to incorrectly couch a failure to follow best practices as a standards compliance issue. When we do our testing we list compliance issues and also recommend changes to meet best practice guidelines. We include the impact to the users in both cases. Sometimes we can get the best practices implemented in a later release and sometimes not. When we can get the contractor or in-house development team to agree to the best practices prior to development (and listed the requirements specifications) then we have much firmer ground to stand on when those best practices are not implemented.

Michael Moore
(512) 424-4159


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Lucy Greco
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 10:38 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] alternative to use of onChange in select menus

I would tend to disagree about not losing sleep as when I encounter one these I give up on the page. Usually because I don't know where I ended up and trying to get back sometimes gets me more lost. As well it really is a lot to expect that many people will try both techniques on a page many keyboard only users do not know about the alt down arrow .i have seen on select used much more effectively then on change.

Lucy Greco
Assistive Technology Specialist
Disabled Student's Program UC Berkeley
(510) 643-7591
http://attlc.berkeley.edu
http://webaccess.berkeley.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of <EMAIL REMOVED>
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 8:26 AM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] alternative to use of onChange in select menus

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/>;