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Re: Combo Box Displays incomplete items - content or accessibility issue?

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From: JP Jamous
Date: Nov 27, 2017 12:18PM


Sarah,

If I take a step back and review this issue, I notice one thing that pops up at me directly. It isn't just an A11Y problem, rather a UX problem. If someone with 20/20 vision takes a look at this UI, the text will be cut off unless the dropdown is expanded.

I agree with your teammates that they don't like it. It does not sound user friendly for anyone. That's a huge problem.

Obviously no UX thoughts were implemented into this back in the design phase. This tells me 2 things.

1. Either this was a requirement that they couldn't fix
Or
2. No one realized what occurred until it was too late

I would fail it as bad UX then bad A11Y, as it blocks all users from seeing the content unless they engage with the dropdown box.

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jim Allan
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2017 1:07 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Combo Box Displays incomplete items - content or accessibility issue?

In my testing with Chrome Jaws/NVDA there is no auditory truncation of content in the dropdowns. But everything is repeated twice (e.g. Access and Wait times, Access and wait times) Visually there is truncation of content in the display. If the user tabs to the control and uses the down arrrow to make a selection the text is truncated within the displayed box. if the user clicks on the dropdown, it opens and all the text is there and word wrapped (nice). However, I could not find a keyboard mechanism (standard to open comboboxes on windows is
alt-down-arrow) to open the combobox which is a failure of 2.1.1.
Surprisingly, ESC would close a combobox that was opened with the mouse (nice), tho there was no screenreader announcement that the combobox collapsed.
as the full content is available on dropdown opening, I would not count that as an error. The non-functionality by keyboard - not be able to open the combobox to see the full content is an error.

Jim
.

On Fri, Nov 17, 2017 at 8:38 AM, Sarah Jevnikar < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:

> Makes sense - thank you so much for your thoughts.
> Sarah
>
>
> Sarah Jevnikar
>
> Accessibility Consultant
>
> Digital Echidna
>
> p: 519-858-4438 ex. 211
> e: <EMAIL REMOVED>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> Behalf Of Meacham, Steve - FSA, Kansas City, MO
> Sent: November 16, 2017 3:43 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Combo Box Displays incomplete items - content or
> accessibility issue?
>
> I'm not aware of a Success Criteria that covers this situation, but I
> think it clearly violates WCAG 2.0 Principles 1 and 3, and Guidelines
> 1.3, 1.4, and 3.1. The Success Criteria, as good as they are, will
> shift over time with technology. The Principles and Guidelines are
> more durable, though more abstract.
>
> Principle 1 "Perceivable - Information and user interface components
> must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive,"
>
> Guideline 1.3 "Adaptable: Create content that can be presented in
> different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information
> or structure"
>
> Guideline 1.4 "Distinguishable: Make it easier for users to see and
> hear content including separating foreground from background"
>
> Principle 3 "Understandable - Information and the operation of user
> interface must be understandable"
>
> Guideline 3.1 "Readable: Make text content readable and understandable"
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> Behalf Of Sarah Jevnikar
> Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2017 2:29 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: [WebAIM] Combo Box Displays incomplete items - content or
> accessibility issue?
>
> Hi again all,
> I've been presented with a combo box which repeats or truncates items
> with both JAWS and NVDA using IE and Chrome (though not when using
> Firefox). This has been documented as a Drupal plugin (called
> Dropkick) problem. It would appear we are too far along in the
> development process to retrofit this for accessibility.
>
> My concern right now lies elsewhere. I'm told that the text is
> visually cut off, which has been flagged as an accessibility issue. Is
> this an issue of accessibility or content? It's obviously not ideal
> that text is shortened, but does it violate WCAG? I'm told by sighted
> colleagues that it's not an uncommon occurrence on the web but don't like the thought of it.
>
> The page is below:
> https://www.cihi.ca/en/news-events-and-education/news
> where filters are presented as dropdown lists.
> Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
> Thank you very much,
> Sarah
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >
>
>
>
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--
Jim Allan, Accessibility Coordinator
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
1100 W. 45th St., Austin, Texas 78756
voice 512.206.9315 fax: 512.206.9452 http://www.tsbvi.edu/
"We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." McLuhan, 1964