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Focus and Change Notification in Rich Internet Applications

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From: Robert Fentress
Date: Mar 2, 2015 2:01PM

Hello, all.

I was wondering if someone could point me to a resource that discusses, in
depth and with, in context, non-trivial examples, how focus should be
handled in rich internet applications and how best to notify users that
something has changed on a page. I've read the WAI-ARIA Authoring
Practices document, and it is helpful, but, in practice, I'm unsure of how
intrusive I should be in managing focus and alerting screen reader users to
page changes. Examples:

- When should regions where elements are added and removed be live
regions versus just, for instance, just moving focus to the first focusable
element in the thing being added? Perhaps it depends on the kind of thing
being added and what it is being added to. What are those circumstances?
- When should notifications be provided in regions with role="alert"?
When would doing so be too intrusive?
- How much guidance should be given to screen reader users about the
behavior of widgets?
- Certain constructs, like aria-controls seem like they would provide
valuable information to screen reader users, but support for them seems
minimal. Given that, how do you best let users know, for instance, that
selecting a checkbox causes other options to appear on a page. How much
can you trust that screen reader users will know what to be on the lookout
for?
- To what degree have expectations about the standard behavior of rich
internet applications filtered down to actual screen reader users?

Is there a course or a book that, for instance, walks you through examples
from actual sites and analyzes their behavior in a thorough way, noting how
they follow, or fail to follow, best practice. I'm not talking about an
hour or two workshop, but something more comprehensive that takes into
account the current state of support for things like ARIA and what user
expectations are at this point.

Thanks,
Rob

--
Robert Fentress
Senior Accessibility Solutions Designer
540.231.1255

Technology-enhanced Learning & Online Strategies
Assistive Technologies
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620 Drillfield Drive (0434)
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061