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RE: Explicit Link Between Radio Buttons and "Question" Label?

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From: Jim Thatcher
Date: Feb 13, 2003 6:39PM

Here's a form with fieldset, including around radio buttons. The
fieldsets are nested.
http://jimthatcher.com/samples/FieldsetFormNoLabels.htm. (Note that
there are no label elements in this sample.) This example is taken form
"Constructing
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904151000/jimthatcherco-20/104-
3980221-7716736> Accessible Web Sites," page 156.



I believe that HPR (3.021) ignores the legend - treating it as if it
were text followed buy a <br>. JFW (4.51) on the other hand uses the
fieldset by speaking the legend in front of each control in the group.
Window-Eyes (4.2) ignores the fieldset and legend elements.



There is an alternative that hasn't been discussed in this thread - I
think. The title attribute can be used on the input elements to include
the question and current option, if desired. It is an tehchnique
supported by HPR, Window-Eyes and JFW. Here is a form using titles - but
the question is not included in those titles (also from the book).
http://jimthatcher.com/samples/SurveyFormWithTitles.htm.



Jim

508 Web Accessibility Tutorial http://jimthatcher.com/webcourse1.htm.

"Constructing Accessible Web Sites:" http://jimthatcher.com/news.htm

512-306-0931



-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Bohman [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 4:59 PM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: RE: Explicit Link Between Radio Buttons and "Question" Label?



I put together a simple page with only one posible solution, but this is
the

most straightfoward solution--the same one that Jukka explained in a

previous email. I have attached the test file to this message.



Again, this is not the only possible solution. If you wanted to, you
could

get fancy by hiding the labels (strongly agree, agree, disagree,
strongly

disagree) from the visual display by using CSS (style="display:none"),
but

then you'd have to make sure that there is some other way for visual
users

to understand the relationship between the input element and its
meaning.



You could make the radio buttons appear horizontally by deleting the <br
/>

tags. You could get rid of the border, or make the border more
prominent.

You could put a background color behind the text question. You could do
all

kinds of things, but I tend to agree with Jukka that the simpler format
may

be your best option.



If anyone else wants to post other, more creative solutions, I'd be
happy to

see them too.



Paul Bohman

Technology Coordinator

WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)

www.webaim.org

Center for Persons with Disabilities

www.cpd.usu.edu

Utah State University

www.usu.edu







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

From: Tim Harshbarger [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]

Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 3:09 PM

To: ' <EMAIL REMOVED> '

Subject: RE: Explicit Link Between Radio Buttons and "Question" Label?





This is a timely discussion for me. Today, I am reviewing an online
survey

that has problems with how it is using radio buttons. However, the
problem

extends beyond the group label to how the individual radio buttons are

labeled.

On each page of the survey, there are about 12 to 20 questions. On a
page,

all the questions share the same possible multiple choice answers. For

instance, "Strongly Agree," "Agree", "Disagree," or "Strongly Disagree."

Those multiple choice label