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Re: alternative to use of onChange in select menus

for

From: ckrugman@sbcglobal.net
Date: Jun 30, 2011 3:06PM

I'm behind in emails as usual but I tried it today and had no difficulty
using it with JAWS 12. Don't know if you made any changes though.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Angela French" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "'WebAIM Discussion List'" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 7:44 AM
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/>;
>
>