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Re: Accessible popup menus

for

From: Al Sparber
Date: Jul 28, 2005 11:51PM


From: "Rob Unsworth" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
>> My goal is not to get a seal of approval from an accessibility
>> "guru". My goal
>> is to defend my product, and also to have some enjoyable debates.
>> Perhaps no
>> one has pressed these kinds of issues before :-)
>
> Al, One would have to ask what you are defending your product from.
> You
> put up a test page with a menu you claimed was accessible, as soon
> as this
> was challenged you put up the defence barriers and attacked anyone
> who
> criticised your test page.

I'm defending my product because an opinion issued by Thatcher was
posted on our public newsgroup and it claimed our menu was not
accessible. I disagree.


> As I see your test menu, using sub-menu 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 as an
> example.
>
> When you reach sub-menu 2.1 tab takes you to 2.2 which reveals
> 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3. you continue tabbing untill you arrive at 2.3.
>
> When you shift-tab to go back to 2.2 it needs so produce the same
> result
> as tabbing from 2.1 to 2.2.
>
> This action should also apply when shift-tabbing from section 4 to
> section
> 3.

Unfortunately, browsers are not programmed to allow that very easily.
We are using an onfocus routine to enable the sub-menus to reveal when
its parent is tabbed to. Removing that would get the behavior you are
looking for, but not the one we want.

A simple look at the number of people who have to use the keyboard (I
totally discount people who choose not to use a mouse, as they are
primarily over-zealous about something or other) paints a clear
course: Develop for the majority and provide alternate paths for the
minority. If you do it in reverse that's an opinion now, is it not?