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Re: Accessibility and web applications

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From: Weissenberger, Todd M
Date: Apr 2, 2014 12:43PM

Todd,



It seems to me that an interface like this should at least include guidance and instruction to the user, regardless of whether such notice is required.



It might be open to interpretation whether G168 applies, since success criterion 3.3.4 also applies to web pages that "that modify or delete user-controllable<http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-WCAG20-20081211/#user-controllabledef>; data in data storage systems". Moreover, Situation B, one of the places where G168 is cited as a sufficient technique, applies "If an action causes information to be deleted." To me, this raises the question of whether uncommitted user inputs are "information" and following a link is an "action"; I'm sure it seems that way when multiple form inputs are reset. At a higher level, Guideline 3.3 simply reads, "Help users avoid and correct mistakes.". At the very least, some kind of message to the user would seem to make sense here.



You didn't mention what platform this is in, but I assume the form is generated server-side and delivered to the user from the database. If that's the case, providing instruction to the user should be a trivial matter.



Todd W.



-----Original Message-----
From: Liko, Todd [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2014 10:18 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility and web applications



Thank you all for your replies. So far there has not been any common opinions, which is to be expected. Some clients want a black and white answer, as in, do I have to do it. I am not a proponent of 'do I have to it' if it adds functionality, usability and accessibility to a page, within reason of course.



The decision on how to move forward will be mine, so I hope to make the best one.



Don Mauck: I see your point, however, the application does not handle legal commitments or financial transactions. G168 says the technique is to seek confirmation from the user that the selected action is his or her intended action. I interpret this to apply to action buttons such as submit and so on. Surely, I would not expect to have to apply this everytime the user selects a link.



Srinivasu Chakravarthula: I agree with your suggesting to adding it as an instruction, the question is it required. This is probably the option I will recommend.



Patrick H. Lauke: Your suggestion of adding a window.onunload event handler is interesting. I am not a web application programmer, but would this not require javascript to be on?



Thanks again all.



Todd.


From: <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> > [ <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Don Mauck [ <EMAIL REMOVED> ]

Sent: April 2, 2014 10:42 AM

To: WebAIM Discussion List

Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility and web applications



I do think this could fall under WCAG2.0 3.3.4, quite possibly (G168). I believe that if the visual user can see it on the screen the screen reader needs to read that as well. Many, many web pages do give an error when requesting to leave the page.

-----Original Message-----

From: Patrick H. Lauke [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]

Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2014 4:18 AM

To: <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >

Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility and web applications



Perhaps adding a window.onunload event handler that brings up a confirmation dialog may be of use? Keep track of whether or not a user has entered any new data, and if so on unload bring up something like



confirm("If you leave this page without saving, your changes will be lost.");



P



On 02/04/2014 11:01, Liko, Todd wrote:

> Hello all.

>

> I have a colleague who came to me for advice about his web application. He has already received advice from another individual and is looking for a second opinion. My opinion differs from the other individual's. I am hoping to get some feedback in here.

>

> The web application in question has a details screen where one can update the information about an employee and then click on the 'Save' button to save that information into a database. The application contains a left hand navigation menu and mega menu. If the information is not saved before navigating away from the page, the information will not be saved to the database.

>

> The other individual is saying my colleague must include a notice on every details page, warning the user that the information input will not be saved if they navigate away from the page before clicking 'Save'. In addition, if that happens, any information entered must be retained, should the user come back to the details page, regardless of how many links navigated away from the page.

>

> In my opinion, this is not an accessibility issue as much as it is a usability issue. The help file for the application does mention information must be saved before navigating away from the details page. I also believe the user is making a conscious decision to navigate away from the page and retaining the information entered is not required.

>

> That being said, if providing this notice can be done without re-engineering the application, my advice is to do it, but it is more of a courtesy than a requirement.

>

> Thoughts?

>

> Todd.

>

>

>
> > list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >

>





--

Patrick H. Lauke



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