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Re: Datepicker questions - are they useful?

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From: Bryan Garaventa
Date: Nov 2, 2015 9:02PM

No problem, I understand the issues as well, and had to consider all of the same things when building the WhatSock date picker too.

What I concluded back in 2012 when building it, was that there was a need for there to be a certain level of functional equivalence in the experience for such a control that traditional tables and similar based markup didn't provide.

For example, in the scenario where there is a time based limit, such as wen filling out a stock trade date range, or a time sensitive ticket purchase for a concert, or for a travel site where the availability changes by the minute, and so on, there needs to be a way for a non-sighted screen reader or keyboard only user to perform the same actions as a sighted mouse user within an equivalent time range in order for this type of interaction to be both usable and accessible for them as well.

All of the methods I tried back then required anywhere from ten to twenty extra steps for every single step for a sighted mouse user to accomplish, which is unacceptable.

So the most useful implementation I came up with was to use standard Link and Button roles, by surrounding these first with role=dialog, with a child table with role=application, and with standard Link and Button roles within for managing focus between them.

This sounds weird, but it deals with many different AT issues that existed back then, such as JAWS 11 not supporting role=application until JAWS14, yet activating Applications Mode prior to that using role=dialog going back to JAWS 12, where role=application was supported in JAWS11 when in IE going back to IE8 on Windows XP, and so on.

The use of the Application role in this case ensures the greatest level of equal accessibility possible, since it enforces a level of interaction that is impossible without it.

The result being, that you can test the WhatSock date picker using any version of JAWS going back to JAWS11 in IE8 on Windows XP to the present, as well as on modern ATs like NVDA or VO on iOS or on the Mac, and it will allow any user to choose a date on any weekday on any month on any year in a matter of seconds from the keyboard equally. Granted touch based navigation is always a bit slower, but this is true for everything.

So basically, I simply want the same user experience that everybody else has, or as close to it as I can get, with the same level of convenience and usability for everybody as possible.

This is what I think the true meaning of accessibility should be.

All the best,
Bryan