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Re: Which control for deselectable, mutually exclusive options?

for

From: Isabel Holdsworth
Date: Jan 18, 2019 8:05AM


Thanks guys.
I like the idea of a group of radiobuttons with a "Clear selection" button.
Standard buttons aren't generally considered mutually exclusive, and
I'm concerned that some users might not read all of the bumph before
the buttons and might think that pressing a second button means
they've made two selections.
Cheers, Isabel

On 18/01/2019, Mark Magennis < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Hi Isabel,
>
> You could make each one a toggle button using <button>. But don't use
> aria-pressed if any of your users are using IE11 (which still includes most
> JAWS users) because IE doesn't support aria-pressed correctly. This is a
> pity because aria-pressed has the semantics to allow AT to report the
> current state and any change in state, but that doesn't happen in IE (with
> either JAWS or NVDA).
>
> You can easily create a toggle button without aria-pressed by changing the
> button's name when its state changes to indicate the new action, e.g. from
> "select French" to "unslect French". Make sure the button name is an action,
> not the state, because button names are always actions. Provide feedback to
> screen reader users using aria-live, e.g. "French is selected" or "You
> selected French". The button would need to have the additional action of
> changing the status of the currently 'selected' button in the group (if
> there is one) to 'unselected'. You'll need to inform users up front that the
> group only allows one selection so that they know this will happen. If you
> still feel it may not be clear, consider adding information about the
> additional action to the screen reader feedback, e.g. "French selected and
> German unselected".
>
> And don't make them look like standard radio buttons because otherwise users
> will think they are standard radio buttons.
>
> Mark
>
> Mark Magennis
> Skillsoft | mobile: +353 87 60 60 162
> Accessibility Specialist
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of
> Isabel Holdsworth
> Sent: 18 January 2019 11:51
> To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> Subject: [WebAIM] Which control for deselectable, mutually exclusive
> options?
>
> Hi there,
>
> We have some forms where users need to choose a single answer from a
> group of possible options. Radio buttons would be perfect for this
> scenario.
>
> But once the user has selected an answer, they need to be able to
> deselect it if they change their mind. Radio buttons aren't
> deselectable, so they're not fit for purpose.
>
> What would be the best element to use for these forms?
>
> We could do something fancy and create a group of options that look
> like buttonms but behave like a <select> list. But speech input
> doesn't tend to cope well with elements that are masked as different
> element types. And hacks like this are offensive to my purist
> mentality :-)
>
> Any suggestions gratefully received.
>
> Kind regards, Isabel
> > > > > > > > >