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Thread: float:right and screen reader support

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From: Jennison Mark Asuncion
Date: Thu, Apr 01 2010 5:27AM
Subject: float:right and screen reader support
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Hello,

I've been asked about the use of the CSS property float:right.
Specifically, it doesn't seem to work, particularly with the JAWS screen
reader, and as a result, it breaks linearization on pages where
this property is being implemented.

I guess the first question is, is this issue isolated to JAWS and it works
with other screen readers? Has anyone come up with a work around and/or is
there another way to achieve the same result using a property other than
float?

Any help is appreciated.
Jennison


Jennison Asuncion
Co-Director, Adaptech Research Network http://www.adaptech.org
LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennison

From: E.J. Zufelt
Date: Thu, Apr 01 2010 5:33AM
Subject: Re: float:right and screen reader support
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Good morning Jennison,

Can you explain a little more about what you mean by breaking linearization?

The JAWS screen-reader will linearize a page in the order that content appears in the DOM. Regardless how CSS is used to arrange content visually on the page, the order that a screen-reader interacts with the content will be the order in which the content is presented in the DOM.

Thanks,
Everett Zufelt
http://zufelt.ca

Follow me on Twitter
http://twitter.com/ezufelt

View my LinkedIn Profile
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ezufelt



On 2010-04-01, at 6:27 AM, Jennison Mark Asuncion wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I've been asked about the use of the CSS property float:right.
> Specifically, it doesn't seem to work, particularly with the JAWS screen
> reader, and as a result, it breaks linearization on pages where
> this property is being implemented.
>
> I guess the first question is, is this issue isolated to JAWS and it works
> with other screen readers? Has anyone come up with a work around and/or is
> there another way to achieve the same result using a property other than
> float?
>
> Any help is appreciated.
> Jennison
>
>
> Jennison Asuncion
> Co-Director, Adaptech Research Network http://www.adaptech.org
> LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
>

From: Steven Faulkner
Date: Thu, Apr 01 2010 5:36AM
Subject: Re: float:right and screen reader support
← Previous message | Next message →

hi jennison,

in what way doesn't it work?
can you provide an example?

my understanding is that if , for example, you have two pieces of
content: A & B in the DOM. If A is floated to the right of B, so
visually it is displayed as B & A then AT will generally ignore the
float and announce the content as it is in the DOM: A & B.

regards
stevef

On 1 April 2010 11:27, Jennison Mark Asuncion
< = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've been asked about the use of the CSS property float:right.
> Specifically, it doesn't seem to work, particularly with the JAWS screen
> reader, and as a result, it breaks linearization on pages where
> this property is being implemented.
>
> I guess the first question is, is this issue isolated to JAWS and it works
> with other screen readers? Has anyone come up with a work around and/or is
> there another way to achieve the same result using a property other than
> float?
>
> Any help is appreciated.
> Jennison
>
>
> Jennison Asuncion
> Co-Director, Adaptech Research Network http://www.adaptech.org
> LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
>

From: Geof Collis
Date: Thu, Apr 01 2010 6:33AM
Subject: Re: float:right and screen reader support
← Previous message | Next message →

Hi Jennison

I have never come across this problem. I use floats left and right on
all of my sites and they do just what they are supposed to and I'm a JAWS user.

cheers

Geof

At 06:27 AM 4/1/2010, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I've been asked about the use of the CSS property float:right.
>Specifically, it doesn't seem to work, particularly with the JAWS screen
>reader, and as a result, it breaks linearization on pages where
>this property is being implemented.
>
>I guess the first question is, is this issue isolated to JAWS and it works
>with other screen readers? Has anyone come up with a work around and/or is
>there another way to achieve the same result using a property other than
>float?
>
>Any help is appreciated.
>Jennison
>
>
>Jennison Asuncion
>Co-Director, Adaptech Research Network http://www.adaptech.org
>LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
>

From: Jennison Mark Asuncion
Date: Thu, Apr 01 2010 7:03AM
Subject: Re: float:right and screen reader support
← Previous message | Next message →

Hello,

Steve, you described the situation perfectly. Can I assume there is no way
to work around this given this is controlled in the DOM?

Jennison


On Thu, 1 Apr 2010, Steven Faulkner wrote:

> hi jennison,
>
> in what way doesn't it work?
> can you provide an example?
>
> my understanding is that if , for example, you have two pieces of
> content: A & B in the DOM. If A is floated to the right of B, so
> visually it is displayed as B & A then AT will generally ignore the
> float and announce the content as it is in the DOM: A & B.
>
> regards
> stevef
>
> On 1 April 2010 11:27, Jennison Mark Asuncion
> < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I've been asked about the use of the CSS property float:right.
>> Specifically, it doesn't seem to work, particularly with the JAWS screen
>> reader, and as a result, it breaks linearization on pages where
>> this property is being implemented.
>>
>> I guess the first question is, is this issue isolated to JAWS and it works
>> with other screen readers? Has anyone come up with a work around and/or is
>> there another way to achieve the same result using a property other than
>> float?
>>
>> Any help is appreciated.
>> Jennison
>>
>>
>> Jennison Asuncion
>> Co-Director, Adaptech Research Network http://www.adaptech.org
>> LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
>>

From: E.J. Zufelt
Date: Thu, Apr 01 2010 7:06AM
Subject: Re: float:right and screen reader support
← Previous message | Next message →

Good morning Jennison,

The best way to work around this is to make sure that content is presented in a meaningful (semantic) order in the DOM. Then use CSS to rearrange the content visually as required.

HTH,
Everett Zufelt
http://zufelt.ca

Follow me on Twitter
http://twitter.com/ezufelt

View my LinkedIn Profile
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ezufelt



On 2010-04-01, at 8:02 AM, Jennison Mark Asuncion wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Steve, you described the situation perfectly. Can I assume there is no way
> to work around this given this is controlled in the DOM?
>
> Jennison
>
>
> On Thu, 1 Apr 2010, Steven Faulkner wrote:
>
>> hi jennison,
>>
>> in what way doesn't it work?
>> can you provide an example?
>>
>> my understanding is that if , for example, you have two pieces of
>> content: A & B in the DOM. If A is floated to the right of B, so
>> visually it is displayed as B & A then AT will generally ignore the
>> float and announce the content as it is in the DOM: A & B.
>>
>> regards
>> stevef
>>
>> On 1 April 2010 11:27, Jennison Mark Asuncion
>> < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I've been asked about the use of the CSS property float:right.
>>> Specifically, it doesn't seem to work, particularly with the JAWS screen
>>> reader, and as a result, it breaks linearization on pages where
>>> this property is being implemented.
>>>
>>> I guess the first question is, is this issue isolated to JAWS and it works
>>> with other screen readers? Has anyone come up with a work around and/or is
>>> there another way to achieve the same result using a property other than
>>> float?
>>>
>>> Any help is appreciated.
>>> Jennison
>>>
>>>
>>> Jennison Asuncion
>>> Co-Director, Adaptech Research Network http://www.adaptech.org
>>> LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
>>>

From: Steven Faulkner
Date: Thu, Apr 01 2010 7:09AM
Subject: Re: float:right and screen reader support
← Previous message | Next message →

hi Jennison,

The main advice is ensure that the DOM order of content is logical and
meaningful.

regards
steve

On 1 April 2010 13:02, Jennison Mark Asuncion
< = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Steve, you described the situation perfectly. Can I assume there is no way
> to work around this given this is controlled in the DOM?
>
> Jennison
>
>
> On Thu, 1 Apr 2010, Steven Faulkner wrote:
>
>> hi jennison,
>>
>> in what way doesn't it work?
>> can you provide an example?
>>
>> my understanding is that if , for example, you have two pieces of
>> content: A & B in the DOM. If A is floated to the right of B, so
>> visually it is displayed as B & A then AT will generally ignore the
>> float and announce the content as it is in the DOM: A & B.
>>
>> regards
>> stevef
>>
>> On 1 April 2010 11:27, Jennison Mark Asuncion
>> < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I've been asked about the use of the CSS property float:right.
>>> Specifically, it doesn't seem to work, particularly with the JAWS screen
>>> reader, and as a result, it breaks linearization on pages where
>>> this property is being implemented.
>>>
>>> I guess the first question is, is this issue isolated to JAWS and it works
>>> with other screen readers? Has anyone come up with a work around and/or is
>>> there another way to achieve the same result using a property other than
>>> float?
>>>
>>> Any help is appreciated.
>>> Jennison
>>>
>>>
>>> Jennison Asuncion
>>> Co-Director, Adaptech Research Network http://www.adaptech.org
>>> LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
>>>

From: Jennison Mark Asuncion
Date: Thu, Apr 01 2010 7:12AM
Subject: Re: float:right and screen reader support
← Previous message | Next message →

Geof,


Interesting re your results with float. What version of JAWS are you
using, and which browser/version?

Jennison

From: Steven Faulkner
Date: Thu, Apr 01 2010 7:27AM
Subject: Re: float:right and screen reader support
← Previous message | Next message →

I tested a simple test page containing the following code:

<span style="float:right">content A</span> <span>content B</span>

it results in the content being displayed as "content B content A".

JAWS 11 in virtual mode announced "content A content B".

in JAWS cursor (screen scraping mode) it announced "content B content A".

regards
Stevef

On 1 April 2010 13:09, Steven Faulkner < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> hi Jennison,
>
> The main advice is ensure that the DOM order of content is logical and
> meaningful.
>
> regards
> steve
>
> On 1 April 2010 13:02, Jennison Mark Asuncion
> < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> Steve, you described the situation perfectly. Can I assume there is no way
>> to work around this given this is controlled in the DOM?
>>
>> Jennison
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 1 Apr 2010, Steven Faulkner wrote:
>>
>>> hi jennison,
>>>
>>> in what way doesn't it work?
>>> can you provide an example?
>>>
>>> my understanding is that if , for example, you have two pieces of
>>> content: A & B in the DOM. If A is floated to the right of B, so
>>> visually it is displayed as B & A then AT will generally ignore the
>>> float and announce the content as it is in the DOM: A & B.
>>>
>>> regards
>>> stevef
>>>
>>> On 1 April 2010 11:27, Jennison Mark Asuncion
>>> < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> I've been asked about the use of the CSS property float:right.
>>>> Specifically, it doesn't seem to work, particularly with the JAWS screen
>>>> reader, and as a result, it breaks linearization on pages where
>>>> this property is being implemented.
>>>>
>>>> I guess the first question is, is this issue isolated to JAWS and it works
>>>> with other screen readers? Has anyone come up with a work around and/or is
>>>> there another way to achieve the same result using a property other than
>>>> float?
>>>>
>>>> Any help is appreciated.
>>>> Jennison
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Jennison Asuncion
>>>> Co-Director, Adaptech Research Network http://www.adaptech.org
>>>> LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
>>>>

From: Geof Collis
Date: Thu, Apr 01 2010 8:27AM
Subject: Re: float:right and screen reader support
← Previous message | No next message

Hi Jennison
I've been using a number of different versions over the years,

JAWS 4.51, 6.0 and now 10.0

Browsers IE 6 and now 8, Firefox 3.53, didn't work with JAWS 4.51 and
6.0 though

cheers

Geof
At 08:05 AM 4/1/2010, you wrote:
>Geof,
>
>
>Interesting re your results with float. What version of JAWS are you
>using, and which browser/version?
>
>Jennison
>
>