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Re: Accessible Datepicker & NVDA Support

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From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: May 20, 2016 6:46AM

> I'm not sure how you could exclude date picker widgets from Accessibility
> testing.
I agree. I personally would not exclude testing a date picker simply because the user can also enter the date in a textfield.

The reason I would choose to test the date picker is due to author intent. Whoever designed the form obviously intended to make the date picker available to users. Most likely, they are trying to facilitate the user's ability to pick a specific date. That might be due to users having some idea what day they want, but not sure which date that is. Maybe, the author doesn't want users leaving the page to go find that information because it negatively impacts conversion rates.

Whatever the reason, I would want to test the date picker because I feel my role as an accessibility expert is to help the "author" convey their intent to the users in as accessible manner as possible. I feel like the choice of whether or not to make something accessible belongs to the author alone--though my hope is always that the choice will be to make the component more accessible.

However, I would not necessarily throw stones at my colleagues that do not test things like date pickers. I know there can be situations where you need to limit the accessibility testing. Perhaps, you are working with people new to accessibility and want to start them on fixing easier problems. Maybe, an inaccessible date picker with an accessible edit field is a lower priority than some other problems. And I suspect there might be other reasons. But I would personally not limit my testing because I thought the edit field was good enough--again I personally feel that my role is to provide the information and then let the "authors" decide what they will do with it.

Thanks,
Tim