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Re: AJAX accessibility issue

for

From: Ryan Hemphill
Date: Mar 22, 2012 9:27AM


You might also want to try this thing as an isolated case first to get the
bugs out - this is one of those situations where a model would serve your
interests by insuring that you are working it out on the isolated prototype
before you trying adding it into the rest of the page.

Incidentally, is this form content being generated by XML/XSLT? Just
curious.


Ryan



On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 11:20 AM, Ryan Hemphill <
<EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> I know that some people are going to think this is a terrible way to deal
> with the problem - but I think it will work.
>
> Push the JAWS screen reader into forms mode. It is only a step away from
> application mode and "Virtual Cursor Off" and you may get the results that
> you are looking for.
>
> One way to do this is to drop the focus (after clicking the button) onto a
> text field. Considering that you are adding form data, this might be a
> viable alternative. I strongly suspect that you will get the behaviors you
> described.
>
> If not, oh well - it was worth a shot, right?
>
>
> Ryan
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 11:03 AM, Humbert, Joseph A < <EMAIL REMOVED> >wrote:
>
>> Hi Courtney,
>>
>> An ARIA alert could possibly be used. It is supported by most major
>> screen reading software, but I am not sure how each software treats an ARIA
>> alert, so a non-AJAX solution may be best.
>>
>> Aria Alert : http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-​wai-aria-20100916/roles#alert<http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-wai-aria-20100916/roles#alert>;
>>
>> More info: http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-​practices/#docmgt<http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices/#docmgt>;
>>
>> The entire WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices document is a good read. Hope
>> this helps.
>>
>> Joe Humbert, Assistive Technology and Web Accessibility Specialist
>> UITS Adaptive Technology and Accessibility Centers
>> Indiana University, Indianapolis and Bloomington
>> 535 W Michigan St. IT214 E
>> Indianapolis, IN 46202
>> Office Phone: (317) 274-4378
>> Cell Phone: (317) 644-6824
>> <EMAIL REMOVED>
>> http://iuadapts.Indiana.edu/
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: webaim-forum-bounces@list.​webaim.org< <EMAIL REMOVED> >[mailto:
>> webaim-forum-bounces@​list.webaim.org< <EMAIL REMOVED> >]
>> On Behalf Of Ritz, Courtney L. (GSFC-7500)
>> Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2012 10:48 AM
>> To: WebAIM Discussion List ( <EMAIL REMOVED> )
>> Subject: [WebAIM] AJAX accessibility issue
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Apologies if this topic has already been discussed on-list. Because it's
>> a rather last-minute issue, I haven't had time to dig through the archives.
>>
>> We have a Web application here that uses some AJAX in at least one Web
>> form. I can't link to the Web app because it's password-protected and
>> behind our firewall, sorry. In this form, the user selects an item, which
>> causes some new form fields to appear for that selected item. As a JAWS
>> user, when I select one of these items, I get no feedback whatsoever that
>> anything has occurred at all.
>>
>> The developer is currently trying some of the suggestions demonstrated on
>> the Juicy Studios site. While they work, they require me to turn off the
>> JAWS virtual PC cursor in order to hear the notification that the action
>> has taken place. To me, while this is technically doable, it requires
>> extra steps that the average JAWS user here isn't going to wish to bother
>> with. Not only that, I don't know how or if this works with other screen
>> readers.
>>
>> Are there any better solutions to this that I can suggest to the
>> developer, or is the best solution to find a non-AJAX method for performing
>> these functions? Whatever we go with has to be able to be considered
>> Section 508 compliant, obviously.
>>
>> Thanks much.
>>
>> Courtney
>>