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Re: Accessible Select Lists

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From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: May 20, 2013 2:04AM

2013-05-20 10:45, Helen Durrant wrote:

> Unfortunately, I can't use <optgroup>
> elements for two reasons - 1. the parent element must also be selectable,
> and 2. the tree of data is unlimited in how many levels it may be nested
> (and <optgroup> elements cannot be nested).

This sounds like such a complicated <select> element that even if it
were possible to implement the requirements, the result would have very
low usability and accessibility. Even simple <select> elements tend to
cause problems, and even more so when their options do not constitute a
simple linear list is in an understandable order.

Technically, you could replace the <select> element by a set of radio
buttons and their labels. Then you could arrange the alternatives
(button/label pairs) in different ways, e.g. using headings or lists.

However, consider first how the interaction could be arranged in a
simpler manner from the user's point of view. Instead of a multi-level
setup where the user needs to go through different levels when making
one choice, you could have a simple one-level choice between
alternatives so that after the choice, a next-level choice is presented,
and so on.

Yucca