WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Does role="combobox" eat the identity of nested elements?

for

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Sep 11, 2019 6:18AM

I saw an interesting presentation from Matt King regarding the future
of the authoring Practices at CSUN last spring.
The idea was to ensure support by at least 1 (I think at least 2)
a.t./browser combos for every pattern.
There was an offshoot effort in the work to document desired and
actual assistive technology support for different patterns.
I haven't heard anything since, but these are exactly the types of
updates I want to see to the authoring practices.
I want people to be able to use the authoring practices patterns out
of the box and be sure that there is at least adequate assistive
technology support for that implementation.



On 9/11/19, Steve Green < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> They might have been accessible with the interaction modes that you used,
> but I guarantee they won't be accessible with all the different interaction
> modes that are possible.
>
> Steve
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> Sent: 11 September 2019 13:08
> To: 'WebAIM Discussion List' < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Does role="combobox" eat the identity of nested
> elements?
>
> I am sure I have come across accessible combo boxes with edit fields. Do not
> recall if they have auto-search or not. I must keep an eye out for one.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Steve
> Green
> Sent: Wednesday, 11 September 2019 7:40 AM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Does role="combobox" eat the identity of nested
> elements?
>
> There aren't any accessible patterns for comboboxes, and I am far from
> convinced that it is even possible with the current state of browsers and
> assistive technologies. I test every pattern I come across and they all have
> shortcomings. Some work adequately if you are in the right mode i.e. browse
> mode or forms mode, but they are terrible if you are in the wrong mode. Some
> work when you initially navigate to them, but do not work correctly when you
> return to them after making a selection.
>
> I listed at least nine different means of interaction that need to be
> supported, such as which mode a screen reader is in when navigating to the
> combobox, whether or not a selection is made or changed, how the selection
> is made (e.g. spacebar or Enter key) and how you navigate away from the
> combobox (e.g. Tab key, Escape key etc.). Any viable pattern needs to work
> correctly with all of these means of interaction, but I have not found a
> pattern that comes close.
>
> And all that needs to work properly before you can even start to think about
> embellishments such as autocomplete or making a selection by character key.
>
> I tell all our clients to use native select elements and to live with the
> fact that some browsers won't allow you to style them the way you want. For
> the time being, there's no point trying to pretend there's another
> solution.
>
> Steve
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of
> Graham Armfield
> Sent: 10 September 2019 20:24
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Does role="combobox" eat the identity of nested
> elements?
>
> Which of course begs the question...
>
> If we're showing developers how an accessible combobox should be
> implemented, what accessible patterns are there out there - that work nicely
> for screen reader users through browsers and AT that are in use at the
> moment?
>
> Regards
> Graham Armfield
>
> On Tue, 10 Sep 2019, 01:14 Steve Green, < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> wrote:
>
>> The ARIA 1.0 examples are equally terrible. Maybe they didn't used to
>> be, but they are with current browsers and screen readers (and if my
>> memory is correct, they always were).
>>
>> Steve
>>
>>
>>
> > > http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > > http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >
> > > http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > > > >


--
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.