WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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RE: (The return of...) Accessible popup menus

for

From: Austin, Darrel
Date: Aug 6, 2005 6:00AM

(APOLOGIES all for that last, incomplete message...I REALLY hate Outlook's
shift-return shortcut for sending a message ;o)

> > Sadly, there still seems to be no
> > "definitive" answer as to "how many?". Like many of the choices we
> > make, it all depends...

There is a definitive answer: 'it depends'

;o)

I think the issue of 'too many choices' while certainly an accessibility
issue, is more so a usability issue.

It becomes an issue of focus. When one has a standard flat menu with perhaps
one sub menu:

Item 1
subitem 1
subitem 2
subitem 3
Item 2
Item 3
Etc

They gain the usability of focus. One only has two sets of menus to focus
on. The parent, and the one child. When you introduce fly-outs, that focus
is blurred. The user may now be distracted by all the other menus they can
explore. Akin to those of us that are habitual channel surfers on digital
cable/sattelite. We can't make it through one show because we're so
distracted by the ability to scan the rest at the same time. (OK, maybe not
the best analogy...maybe someone can improve that ;o)

> > The other significant issues are that of mobility impairments and
> > alternative user agents.

> I move that many ordinary text links, at typical body "font-sizes"
> present the same problems.

True...but not to the same extent. A static list has one target. A fly out
has multiple...the parent, then the child, etc.

> My greatest aprehension is that as IE7 ramps up market share,
> it joins
> other modern browsers in supporting ":hover" by spec and that
> so-called "pure CSS menus" will spread like wildfire.

I fear that too. I've asked this simliar question elsewhere and a lot of the
responses are 'check out the suckerfish menu!' and that is a bit worrisome.

Granted, all sorts of bad fly-out navigation systems have already spread
like wildfire, so maybe it's a moot point.

-Darrel