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Re: required or aria required usage

for

From: Sailesh Panchang
Date: May 7, 2020 6:35AM

If these are checkboxes where at least one needs to be checked, that
is essential info that all users need to know. These are surely not
radio buttons and the "required" property does not make sense in this
context. The native fieldset/legend method to convey this info is the
best. No need to use ARIA IMO. Conveying that at least one needs to be
checked via an error message too is not the best usability.
Thanks,
Sailesh


On 5/7/20, Birkir R. Gunnarsson < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> I did a more recent test and found much improved support for
> aria-describedby on the fieldset (or group) element, pointing to the
> error message, stuffing it into the <legend> no longer necessary.
> I think adding "(check at least one)" to the <legend>, is the safest
> bet, even if aria-required works it does not tell the whole story
> (that checking at least one is required) and it's also something
> non-screen reader users need to know.
>
>
>
> On 5/7/20, Mallory < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>> At Tenon we wrestled with this for the Tenon UI.
>>
>> Unfortunately it's become a more popular UI component, a set of
>> checkboxes
>> where at least one must be checked but radios or a select cannot be used
>> because users may check more.
>>
>> What we ended up with:
>> - the legend adds either the word "required" (for radios) or "choose at
>> least 1" (for checkboxes
>> - resultant error messages stuffed inside the legend
>>
>> "aria-required" on the fieldset probably wouldn't have hurt, but we
>> didn't
>> do that. Maybe there wasn't enough AT support back then?
>>
>> Also, getting error messages to be both programmatically associated with
>> the
>> group and read out wasn't very doable cross-browser: stuffing error
>> messages
>> inot the legend worked the best, even though semantically we'd have
>> preferred doing it differently.
>>
>> It's already a bit old but you can see an example demo form here:
>> https://www.tenon-ui.info/forms-full-demo
>>
>> cheers,
>> _mallory
>>
>> On Wed, May 6, 2020, at 5:13 PM, Jared Smith wrote:
>>> I think <fieldset aria-required="true"> would be best. I'm not sure on
>>> the support for this yet. Also, the semantics seem a bit off because
>>> checkboxes inherently mean they can be checked or not, which means
>>> that they are not required, whereas aria-required on the fieldset
>>> means that something is required.
>>>
>>> Probably best of all is to ensure that this is clear in the text
>>> instructions, optimally in a fieldset legend, along with good error
>>> messaging and handling
>>>
>>> Jared
>>> >>> >>> >>> >>>
>> >> >> >> >>
>
>
> --
> Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
> > > > >


--
Sailesh Panchang
Principal Accessibility Consultant
Deque Systems Inc
381 Elden Street, Suite 2000, Herndon, VA 20170
Mobile: 571-344-1765