WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Testing SC 1.4.12 in multiple browsers

for

From: Steve Green
Date: Sep 25, 2021 7:25AM

"So, if we're reviewing or auditing a site that uses this date input, what's the best approach?"

It all depends on what you mean by "reviewing or auditing a site". Are you testing for WCAG conformance or are you testing the user experience? They are not the same.

If you are doing a WCAG audit, my view is that it passes. The input type="date" element is accessibility supported as per the definition at
https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/conformance#accessibility-supported-definition

The definition does not require that the Web content technology is supported by ALL user agents as long as it "is supported natively in widely-distributed user agents". In fact it goes further and says "The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group and the W3C do not specify which or how much support by assistive technologies there must be for a particular use of a Web technology in order for it to be classified as accessibility supported."

By contrast, if you are doing an "accessibility review" or "assistive technology testing", then you should indeed report that the input type="date" element is difficult or impossible to use with Voiceover and Dragon.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd