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Re: Ajax

for

From: smithj7
Date: Oct 13, 2006 12:00AM

This discussion was very helpful.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alastair Campbell" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Ajax


> John Foliot wrote:
>> I suspect however that the bigger issue/requirement is that
>> the AJAX widget simply degrades gracefully without the
>> requirement of the end user to indicate "turn it off".
>> Often, it may not even be an issue of turning
>> something On or Off, as Robert Nyman discovered one day
>> [http://soap.stanford.edu/show.php?contentid=65#ajax2]
>
> Presumably if the app works without JavaScript (i.e. unobtrusive/hijax)
> then that situation (where the JavaScript was removed) should be fine?
>
>> And testing with various Adaptive Technologies is always
>> important. But as us "old fellers" are always reminding -
>> this web accessibility thing is for
>> more than just the blind/visually impaired.
>
> No argument from me there, it's just that the issues for just about
> everyone except screen reader users tend to be of the usability kind,
> affecting *everyone* except maybe the technically gifted. With screen
> readers, it can go from difficult to impossible, and a pretty clear
> accessibility issue.
>
> I assume there are also issues when things update away from the current
> focus for people using screen magnifiers, are there any other common
> issues?
>
>> it also impacts users of alternative
>> user-agents (our oft quoted "cell phones/PDA's").
>
> Definitely, my old phone's browser choked so badly on JavaScript it
> became unusable, and I couldn't turn it off.
>
> However, I've been meaning to post about the webkit based browser (that
> safari is built on), as my current phone has excellent JavaScript
> support, I even managed drag and drop on my Google home page!
>
>> You mentioned that there are a few caveats based on your
>> current testing - care to share?
>
> Sure, sorry for being cryptic. I need to gather together the JAWs
> testing (i.e. talk to my colleague who completed it), I'll publish that
> when I get the chance.
>
> Using Voiceover (OSX), AJAX is not intrinsically difficult at all, the
> changes within the page are updated and available to the user.
>
> The first caveat is that updates via JavaScript aren't announced, and if
> you click a link, you are often redirected to the top of the page as
> though it had reloaded (although it hadn't). From that point, you can
> then navigate and get to the updated content as though the page had
> simply refreshed.
>
> The second caveats are that within page links simply don't work in
> Voiceover. The screen scrolls, but the cursor doesn't move (although one
> person on the MacVisionaries list came up with a very impressive but
> difficult workaround). One of Brothercake's tests worked as intended,
> and a couple almost worked as intended (i.e. the text updated, was read
> out and left the cursor there).
>
> I'll write up the results when I get a chance.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> -Alastair
>
> --
> Alastair Campbell | Director of User Experience
>
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