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Re: interface has a search bar that is actually a button. WHY?????

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From: Steve Green
Date: Oct 5, 2021 10:18PM

I agree with Patrick. It's a stupid, yet very common, feature that is almost always unnecessary and harms the user experience for almost everyone. Your best chance of getting it removed is to do some user testing. We find that video evidence of people complaining about their inability to find or use features is extremely powerful.

I would also ask the UI designers for the evidence that underpins their decision to implement the feature that way. Did they do any user research? Did an authoritative UX research organisation recommend it? Or did they just copy something they thought was cool on someone else's website. We know the answer, but I like to get them to admit it because so little professional UX research and testing is done these days, and everyone just copies the fads they have seen elsewhere.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Patrick H. Lauke
Sent: 05 October 2021 22:46
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] interface has a search bar that is actually a button. WHY?????

On 05/10/2021 22:29, Andy Andrews wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> We were using keyboard navigation to test the De Gruyter interface [https://www.degruyter.com/database/ebr/html#] and encountered a very confusing situation. After tabbing to the search bar and attempting to enter a search term, nothing appears in the field. We discovered that if you click on or hit enter in the search bar, it acts as a button and opens a pop up. In this case, screen reader users would actually have an easier time because the screen reader says it is a button. So it technically is accessible, but functionally it is not acting as expected for most users.
>
> Would WCAG fail this and if so, what violation would it be?

I'd say that no SC is violated here. It's rubbish and confusing design, but it's rubbish and confusing in equal measure for most users.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
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