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Re: Google Forms: Label issues

for

From: Greg Kraus
Date: Apr 19, 2012 11:58AM

Hi Karla,

Google Forms have some basic accessibility problems. As Jared points
out, you cannot edit the code, so there isn't much you can do. The
main accessibility problems I have noticed so far are:

1. You are correct, the question and the help text are both being
associated as labels for a single input element. This is technically
incorrect, but some screen readers seem to handle this OK, but there
is no guarantee that all screen readers will.

2. All of the questions are coded as labels, but sometimes those
labels aren't explicitly tied to the following choices, such as
multiple choice questions made with check boxes or radio buttons. What
is really needed is a different model of presenting the questions and
choices. Some question types, like multiple choice, in most cases
should probably be implemented with a legend for the fieldset. This
raises the problem then of some questions being coded as labels and
some as fieldsets. There are other solutions to this problem, such as
using headings to denote each question, or else using aria-label or
aria-labelledby attributes.

3. Required fields are not announced by screen readers as being required.

4. Inputs for the grid question types are not labelled correctly

5. Inputs for the scale question type could be more usable if the
screen reader user is given some explanatory text ahead of time about
how it's laid out.

There are some steps you could take to make Forms more accessible, like

1. putting 1 question per page
2. if a question is required, make "required" part of the question text
3. limit yourself to the more accessible types of questions

This still won't make it totally accessible, but it would make it more usable.

I hope this helps.

Greg

--
Greg Kraus
University IT Accessibility Coordinator
NC State University
919.513.4087
<EMAIL REMOVED>


On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 1:39 PM, Jared Smith < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 11:26 AM, Karla Kmetz wrote:
>>  But I cannot figure out how to get into the code view so that I can fix them.
>
> You can't edit the underlying code in Google Docs or Forms. It would
> be up to Google to fix these issues.
>
>> Multiple form labels associated with one field:
>
> This is a potential issue because screen reader generally only read
> the first label that is encountered. If the first label is the
> question text, it may not actually be an issue.
>
>> Orphaned form label
>
> This isn't really an issue. This check has been removed from WAVE5.
> While having a label that is not associated to a control may indicate
> that a form control *might* be mislabelled or unlabelled, the orphaned
> label itself doesn't cause any issues. WAVE would, of course,
> separately flag any form controls that are missing labels. This error
> can probably be ignored.
>
>> Missing form label: This happens when I do not include Help Text with the
>> question.
>
> This seems very odd. I would think the question should be the label
> and that lack of help text shouldn't cause any issues.
>
>> Or are Google forms just not accessible?
>
> From what you describe, I'd say there seems to be issues with Google
> forms. If you have an example form we could look at, I'm sure we could
> provide a more definitive answer.
>
> Jared
> > >