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Re: Date fields in forms: one input vs three

for

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Mar 21, 2013 6:35PM

Hi

Can't seem to find the article you mentioned (please post it to the
list if you find it).
Regarding date pickers, whatever version is implemented it has to have
full keyboard support and be labelled accessibly. I have seen many
unsatisfactory versions of date pickers unfortunately.
The most unambiguous one I have used is on www.aa.com when booking
flights (it may have been "updated" .. made worse). It simply consts
of 3 comboboxes, day, month, year, it eliminates any confusion
regarding format of text input (date format, 2 vs 4 digit years etc.).
If an edit field is provided for dates the label should clearly
indicate the expected format (dd/mm/yy or mm/dd/yy or mm/dd/yyyy etc.)
ideally along with an example (mm/dd/yyyy, such as 10/20/2013).
There are some cool date pickers out there, I know www.whatsock.com
had an experimental one that was fully keyboard accessible in a table
format (though it was more of a calendar grid). These are nice and
intuitive but would require more work to make sure they are fully
accessible, and would have to take over keyboard navigation (i.e. be
an application) to make sure arrow keys work as expected. If this
solution is selected it should follow the DHTML keyboard navigation
guide.
This is probably all pretty basic, and stuff you are already aware of,
but I am posting it just in case.
HTH
-B

On 3/21/13, Susan Grossman < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Last year a vendor supplied me with a white paper on using one field and a
> date picker enhancement (one label), instead of using three fields for
> dates (three labels) in forms.
>
> Don't seem to be able to find this paper and was hoping someone could point
> me to it, or give me an expert opinion that I can pass on. There is an
> ongoing discussion among our UX teams with members feeling strongly about
> both concepts and I'm looking for data or an accessibility experts
> reasoning an recommendation.
>
> I'm aware that many books like Hardboiled Web Design talk about the date
> pickers airlines/hotels use as being painful and show single fields, but am
> looking for the accessibility angle.
>
> Thank you
>
> --
> *Susan R. Grossman*
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> > > >