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Re: Screen reader and greyed-out submit button

for

From: Graham Armfield
Date: Jan 15, 2020 3:58AM

Hi Barry,

Having a submit button only become active when all fields pass the form
validation seems to be a popular pattern within some organisations. But
it's also considered a bit of an anti-pattern by some within the UX (user
experience) and accessibility communities.

I can think of a couple of reasons why this is not a good idea.

Firstly, the submit button on/off functionality relies on JavaScript
routines running in the browser to perform the validation before enabling
the submit button. Some people may be browsing in setups where JavaScript
has been blocked, or where the JavaScript files don't load and these users
may never be able to submit the form since the validation routines don't
run.

Secondly, I'm told that if field prompts are not sufficiently informative,
or don't contain format guidance, some people favour submitting a form
early and using the resultant error messages to help understand the
information that is required. If the submit button is not activated until
validation is satisfied, this is not possible.

There are also some other ideas in this article:
https://axesslab.com/disabled-buttons-suck/

Regards
Graham Armfield

coolfields.co.uk <http://www.coolfields.co.uk/>;
M:07905 590026
T: 01483 856613
@coolfields <https://twitter.com/coolfields>


On Wed, 15 Jan 2020 at 06:57, Barry Hill < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hi all
>
>
>
> When a web form has a submit button that is greyed-out when the form is
> incomplete, how should it be handled with screen readers? Or should the
> user be able to submit the form and get the alert that the form is
> incomplete?
>
>
>
> Thanks in anticipation.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
> Barry
>
>
>
> > > > >