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RE: labeling search box

for

From: Paul Bohman
Date: Jul 10, 2003 4:14PM

Here's what I found when testing the page http://www.sc.edu/ in three
different screen readers (JAWS, Home Page Reader, Window Eyes):

-In every case, the screen reader read the text "search" as if it were the
label, which is a good thing. However, if you tab to the search box and then
continue tabbing, the text disappears, so when you return to the search box,
no label is read at all. You can remedy this by:

*adding a true label and deleting the word "search" within the text box
(this is the method I would recommend, even if it does put the word "search"
on the page)

OR

*adding a title attribute as Jim recommends. The trouble with the second
approach is that I couldn't get either JAWS or Home Page Reader to read the
title attribute for the input tag. Jim, I know that you are an advocate of
this approach, so maybe you can explain how to make this method work, or
perhaps give me an idea of what I might be doing wrong, if anything?

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