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Re: Opening New Windows

for

From: Michael D. Roush
Date: Nov 7, 2003 12:40PM


----- Original Message -----
From: "Sachin Pavitran" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >


> I am Sachin Pavithran, the Assistive Technology specialist at WEBAIM.
After
> reading all the postings posted by developers about opening a new window
in
> a browser, here is my prospective about opening new windows being a JAWS
> user.
>
> When a new window is opened JAWS alerts the user that a new window is
being
> opened, which lets the screen reader user know what is going on the
browser.

And this calls attention to the fundamental difference between "Screen
Readers" and "Talking Web Browsers". A high-quality (with a commensurate
price tag) screen reader like JAWS is usable for so many other things on a
computer than just Web/Internet usage. Some talking web browsers may handle
'spawned' windows with great clarity for the user. Some, in my experience,
do not.

Knowing this, each developer is then left to grapple with the decision of
how much variety of browser capabilities to accomodate. Much of the talk I
am seeing back and forth on this subject is that old balance between 'what
the standards say' and 'what seems to work for which people'.


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