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Re: Focus and Change Notification in Rich Internet Applications

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Mar 2, 2015 4:11PM

Rob
That is a quality question which requires a lengthy answer, probably
an answer published on a blog or a similar place where it can be
improved and quoted later.
I have run into a lot of situations wehre I have had to make focus and
live region announcement judgment calls, and I need to sum up those
experience in a blog.
Feel free to bug me off-line, as I will actually try to put together
an answer for you in the coming days (I am on vacation until tomorrow,
and web accessibility blogging does not go well with margaritas and
frozen concoctions, mostly because they are most enjoyably zipped in
hot tubs).
This is a huge topic, but we will try to create something useful.
Needless to say that does not prevent others from posting their
thoughts, I encourage that and will read all responses with much
interest myself.
Cheers



On 3/2/15, Robert Fentress < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> 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
> 1180 Torgersen Hall
> 620 Drillfield Drive (0434)
> Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
> > > >


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