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Fw: Regarding checkboxes and radio buttons that are not input elements

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From: Bryan Garaventa
Date: May 8, 2012 2:38PM

I'm forwarding this here in case anyone would like to share an opinion. I'd like to know if I'm missing something.

----- Original Message -----
From: Bryan Garaventa
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 9:21 AM
Subject: Re: [free-aria] Regarding checkboxes and radio buttons that are not input elements


Thanks, that's along the same lines as I was thinking as well.

Does anyone know if there is CSS styling that can only be done on a Div, but cannot be done on an Input tag? From what I've read, it should be possible to use CSS styling or background images to make these elements look like whatever you wish.

So, if I'm right about this, that you can use CSS to make an Input tag look fancy using CSS, and if it's not reliable to use Divs for this purpose because of keyboard accessibility issues and lack of backwards compatibility for screen reader users, then what is the purpose of the ARIA role=radio and role=checkbox attribute sets?

Doesn't this imply that doing this is perfectly acceptable?

----- Original Message -----
From: Vincent Young
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2012 8:44 PM
Subject: Re: [free-aria] Regarding checkboxes and radio buttons that are not input elements


Bryan,


I believe, for the most part, these are purely for aesthetic reasons. The aesthetics typically include the box and check mark of course. I've worked at several places where the design and brand ruled. Custom inputs are very compelling for these folks. Those making the decisions are more focused on the brand and accessibility hardly ever makes any cut. However, I'm sure in many cases accessibility isn't even a consideration due to the fact that the options were never presented. Of course when presented with the option, it seems from personal experience, accessibility is often cast aside. I was once told by the VP of Internet for a very large brand centric company that he'll worry about accessibility when he needs to. He was eluding to legal recourse. To a certain degree, after seeing what the guy has to deal with and worry about I understand where he is coming from. It is not his world and he has a host of other issues that take precedence. Of course if it were up
to me, I'd try to find a happy medium, but I have never found myself in such positions of power making decisions for an aesthetic centered brand, so I really don't know what it's like. Hope this made some sense.


Best,
Vincent


On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 3:40 PM, Bryan Garaventa < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

I've been finding this a lot recently, and I'm curious.

Why would it be more desirable to use Div tags to render radio buttons and checkboxes, instead of simply using standard Input elements for the same purpose and just styling them to look a certain way using CSS?

The drawbacks to using Divs are obvious, such as keyboard inaccessibility, textual equivalent feedback, backwards compatibility, and the time necessary to debug such implementations to make them accessible.

I know that ARIA can be used to convey the intended feedback for screen readers that support ARIA, but the same keyboard issues apply regardless.

I'm not being facetious; I would genuinely like to know why this is preferable, since there appear to be such implementations in most of the major frameworks.

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