WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Select lists and automatically forwarding onchange

for

From: Tim
Date: Nov 29, 2005 9:40AM

I wonder... I'm sure I've read that from an accessibility pov, the following
is very bad form. Consider the fairly common scene:

A select list is used to list pages on a site
The visitor makes a selection
The visitor is automatically redirected to a new page via some scripting

I used to think this was bad because for those who use the keyboard, when
scrolling through the list they get redirected before they want? However,
when using the keyboard I don't seem to have any problem.

If the action is triggered once the user leaves the select list, surely it's
fair to assume they've made a choice? No, I guess not. They may have chosen
NOT to use my select list...

Also, if scripting is disabled (I've heard of this mythical user but my web
stats don't seem to have found them yet) then the select list won't work.

Are there any other reasons why you shouldn't use this automatic redirection
in conjunction with a select list but use an input button instead to trigger
the action?

TIA,
Tim