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Re: Accessible popup menus

for

From: Don Hinshaw
Date: Jul 28, 2005 10:49PM



Jim Thatcher wrote:

>The fact is that being able to get to every item is not accessibility. Being
>able to get to every item in a reasonable time -close to the number of steps
>required by a sighted person - that is accessibility
>
>
>
Hi Jim,
I'm being a little contrary here, I know, but isn't this more a question
of Information Architecture than whether or not the menus are
constructed like Al's or simply listed out where a sighted person can
see all the links? If you have 234 links you still have to tab through
them all to get to the help menu (to use your example) whether they are
nested in drop-down menus or not, right? Clearly that is an excessive
number of links.

I think I asked this question about your original response and never go
an answer, but you were saying that a better way to go is to show the
list of submenu choices on the page when you get to that page. I
understand how that makes navigating that section easier once you get
there, but I don't see how it makes it any easier to get there in the
first place.

So what is one to do? If you have a deep site, drop down menus can be a
huge affordance for non-disabled folks if used correctly...they can
greatly reduce the number of clicks necessary to get from point A to
point B.
How should we use them to not make the site intolerable for disabled users?

Don

--
Don Hinshaw
Hinshaw Design Group
510.525.2492
http://www.hinshawdesign.com