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Making Discussion Forums Accessible

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From: Julian Voelcker
Date: Jul 8, 2003 5:19PM

We created some discussion forums on a site some time ago and now want
to try to convert it into a more Accessible format.

The forums mimic the average mail reader using frames to provide a
listing of the messages (message date, subject and author) in a
(static) tree structure at the top half of the screen and then the
bottom half of the screen is used for displaying the actual messages
(you click a message in the top half to display in the bottom) or for
providing a form for adding new messages.

Now I realise that it is in theory possible to create Accessible
frames, however am I right that these severely are frowned upon?

One of the key requirements from the Users' point of view is to be able
to see a full listing of all messages because they may be following
several threads/conversations at once - the forums are used for holding
virtual meetings, so the user's refresh the message listing quite
regularly to see new messages.

The only alternative that I can think of is to have a single page with
the message listing at the top and the message viewer/editor at the
bottom, although this will result in the user having to scroll down the
to bottom of the page each time they want to see a message or create a
new one. OK, I can put some skip links in, but then the user might
miss new messages (these are flagged up with a visual indicator).

Some pointers to some good Accessible forums would be handy as well as
any other advice you may have.

Cheers,

Julian Voelcker
Cirencester, United Kingdom



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