WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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RE: opening new browser windows?

for

From: John Foliot - WATS.ca
Date: Nov 6, 2003 3:08PM

> (I counted 6 in the last 10 minutes of Google searching on this matter)

Whereas I counted none, although my Google bar in IE (or settings in NN7.1 /
Opera) is blocking loads of popups...

Which then leads to another question: the WCAG states "...Until user agents
allow users to turn off spawned windows, do not cause pop-ups or other
windows to appear..." Considering that many of the latest generation of
browsers and/or third party add-ons have satisfied the first criteria
("Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows"), and assuming
that users are employing these tools/methods/settings, why would you then go
out of your way to circumvent their wishes, and/or remove access to content
(For example, JavaScript "may" be enabled but a browser is "protected" via
any number of third party apps to avoid popups). Then what? No content
available to the user? Perhaps...

No, the comment made earlier about this being an Information Architecture
issue is probably closer to the truth... surely creative and talented
developers can provide equivalent functionality without resorting to the
simplistic spawning of a new window.

<opinion>
Jared, I will presume that this has been discussed at some length at WebAIM,
and I appreciate your perceived "balanced" approach, but I would also
suggest that any organization/web site which purports to address web
accessibility and support of "Standards" should take a stricter and perhaps
narrower interpretation of the (possibly flawed) WCAG Checklist, if for no
other reason than to "...eat their own dogfood*"

(*famous quotation from accessibility specialist Joe Clark)
</opinion>

JF
--
John Foliot <EMAIL REMOVED>
Web Accessibility Specialist / Co-founder of WATS.ca
Web Accessibility Testing and Services
http://www.wats.ca 1.866.932.4878 (North America)






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