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Re: screen readers constantly saying "clickable" with onMouseDown Javascript in a table, is there a better design recommendation for this?

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Dec 5, 2011 1:30PM

Thanks everyone for valuable contributions.
This website is frequented by users using Jaws, NvDA, and various
versions of Hal&Supernova. Users] technical ability varies widely, so
I want to be able to provide a way to turn off this "distaction" for
them, in other words, changing speech settings, though a valuable
tool, is not good here.
I agree that this provides information that is useful.
Perhaps I can leave this info for the column titles (the header row),
but the results themselves should not hae "clickable" associated with
them.
I like the idea of using role = button
for the 3 actions a user can perform
(hala ni[ur, b;ta 'a minnislista, and, panta 'a disk).
I don't like this graphics link combination, and it distracts users as well.
I presume it is enough to just add this and then the links will appear
as buttons to the users, I can easily test this with Jaws and NVDA.
Again, thanks all.


On 12/5/11, James Nurthen < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Birkir,
>
> Assuming you are using JAWS, you can change what is said in the JAWS
> "Speech and Sounds" settings.
> On the HTML tab you can change the text that is read for a number of
> different attributes, play a sound instead for certain attributes, or turn
> off certain attributes individually.
>
> Regards,
> James
>
> On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 07:25, Birkir R. Gunnarsson <
> <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
>> Hi all
>>
>> I am working with a library page (in Icelandic admittedly).
>> The page is
>> http://hbleit.bbi.is/
>>
>> To get a sample of a table, type in "Auel" (or any other author you
>> fancy) in the search field and hit enter (leit = search).
>> The resulting interface table is a bit clumsy but it does work.
>> There is a lot of "fancy" drag and drop functionality going on, but
>> there is sufficient keyboard support to get it done.
>> The problem I am having with this, and the users complain about, is
>> that the word "clickable" is read for practically every column,
>> because there is an onMouseDown event associated with almost every
>> column and value.
>> When an Icelandic tts voice is used, but the word clickable is not
>> translated, you end up with a minor, but irritating user distraction.
>> I have looked at accessibility commentary for "onMouseDown" but it
>> only suggest implementing appropriate keyboard support, which is not
>> the issue, but I can't find anywhere how one could prevent it from
>> being "vissible" to the screen readers.
>>
>> Is it possible to either use a different type of event, use ARIa to
>> hide this functionality, or would you simply recommend a more major
>> overhaul of how this search result table is implemented?
>> (the last 3 columns in the result table have options like "add to wish
>> list" "download" and "order on cd").
>> We have the vendors attention at the moment, especially for small
>> accessibility repairs.
>> I know, in the perfect world, this whole set up should be recoded, and
>> it is on the agenda for next year, but if there is a quickish type of
>> fix that could be implemented to prevent the word "clickable" from
>> being read constantly, it would be a feather in my cap and no misatke.
>> Thanks all.
>> -Birkir
>>