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Re: Tab widgets

for

From: Donald Evans
Date: Jul 8, 2011 10:30AM

You are right, the technique works very well if the content is pre-loaded.


On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 11:39 AM, Tim Harshbarger <
<EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> OK, I am going to be difficult--not because I necessarily disagree, but
> because whatever guidance I provide to others, I need to be able to
> defend--well, not defend...the process isn't adversarial, but I have to be
> able to address concerns with the approach.
>
> I know that in discussions about RIA widget interactions and how they
> should work, they looked at how various OS's handled those interactions.
> With regards to tabs and tab panels, the different OS's do not handle the
> revealing of new tab panel content the same way. So, the recommended
> approach in this document isn't necessarily recommended because its
> universal.
>
> The recommended approach works very well if the tab panel content is
> preloaded. If it isn't, there is a possibility that the tab panel update
> can fall behind whatever the current tab focus is. Is that likely to cause
> issues for people using the keyboard to interact with tab widgets who can
> see what is happening? It might be an issue for screen reader users
> too--but since someone using a screen reader will have to select a tab and
> then move to the panel, enough time should pass for the DOM to be updated
> with the current content.
>
> So is the potential delay in the update for the tab panel an issue that
> might cause problems for users or is it a non-issue? If it is a real
> concern, how are people addressing it?
>
> Thanks!
> Tim
> Your Friendly Neighborhood Accessibility consultant
> State Farm Insurance Companies
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto:
> <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Donald Evans
> Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 8:42 AM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Tab widgets
>
> The recommended keyboard shortcuts for a tabbed interface can be found at:
> http://dev.aol.com/dhtml_style_guide#tabpanel
>
> This was a subcommittee of the ARIA working group...
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 9:37 AM, Tim Harshbarger <
> <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> > For those of you who are dealing with, designing, or developing rich
> > internet application widgets, how are you handling tabs interactions?
> >
> > Do your tab panels change as the user changes focus from tab to tab or do
> > you only update the tab panel when the user selects the tab using the
> > spacebar or enter key?
> >
> > I am finding advice on using both interaction approaches. I am trying to
> > decide what is optimal. Right now, I am leaning towards requiring the
> user
> > to press the spacebar or enter key to select the tab. The reason being,
> if
> > the tab selection triggers an http request to retrieve updated tab panel
> > contents from the server, its possibly going to be confusing to the user
> if
> > they use the arrow keys to move across the tabs and the panel is being
> > updated slightly behind the current selection. So, you move from tab A
> to
> > tab B to tab C and, by the time you are on tab C, the content you are
> seeing
> > is for tab B because the server is moving slow enough that the panel
> hasn't
> > updated yet.
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Tim
> > Tim Harshbarger
> > Your Friendly Neighborhood Accessibility Guy
> > State Farm Insurance Companies
> >
> >