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Re: location of details link

for

From: Jonathan Avila
Date: Jul 14, 2017 1:52PM


> The details can go in the second column (if absolutely necessary) but preferably in the column on the right.

From a low vision user perspective I would not want the details at the far right as it is likely to be off the edge of the screen or missed when content is enlarged.

aria-describedby could be used to associate a more complete name with the link.

It is a shame that assistive technology does not correctly support row headers in other columns other than the first as this is a reasonable approach if it were supported.

Jonathan

Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
Level Access, inc. (formerly SSB BART Group, inc.)
(703) 637-8957
<EMAIL REMOVED>
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-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2017 3:47 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] location of details link

I use screen readers (but don't use screen reader users, at least not for personal gain).
If you have a column of links with identical text (e.g. "details") you are breaking WCAG 2.4.4 if you don't add additional context.
That is one of the reasons why placing the "details" link on the left side of a table is a bad idea.

The leftmost column in a table should contain row header cells. Row header cells only work for columns to the right of that column (by work I mean are announced by screen readers).
Having a row header cell associated with the "detail" link is sufficient context or WCAG 2.4.4

So I would place whatever is the best identifier for the result in the first column. The details can go in the second column (if absolutely
necessary) but preferably in the column on the right.
After all, users that are interested enough in a search result twant detail will probably look at that table fairly carefully, or you can style the details link text to draw attention.



On 7/14/17, Angela French < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Hello WebAIMers,
>
> We are redesigning a web application built about 8 years ago. This
> time around we want it to be more accessible.
>
> I would be grateful for your opinion in testing out the location of a
> "details" link in a table of search results.
>
> Link to sample
> page<http://devapps.sbctc.edu/TechPrepV2/SearchArticulations>;. Please
> just click the Search button under the search filter drop down lists
> to ensure (with our limited test data) that you actually get results.
>
> The results are displayed in a 7-column table with the last column
> holding a "details" link which allows the user to see deeper details
> for that specific search results record.
>
> In our old application, the "details" link was in the first column. I
> question that position because how can a screen reader user (reading
> left to
> right) decide to click on details before they know what they would be
> seeing details of? My rationale in putting it on the right column is
> that as content is read from left to right, the screen reader user
> would know what they are getting details for by the time they get to the details link.
>
> My co-worker feels like the link gets lost over in the right column.
> I can understand that point of view too.
>
> Thank you for your opinions - especially from those who use screen
> reader users.
>
>
>
>
> Angela French
> Internet/Intranet Specialist
> Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
> 360-704-4316
> <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> www.sbctc.edu<;http://www.sbctc.edu/>;
>
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >


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