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Thread: Another FORM element problem
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From: Terence de Giere
Date: Fri, Jan 10 2003 2:59PM
Subject: Another FORM element problem
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In the WebAim forum, January 7, 2003, Carol Foster noted not being able
to get the HTML form file upload control <input type="file"> to work
with JAWS. This is something I, and others had not noticed before but it
appears to be definitely a keyboard support problem with the browsers,
and not JAWS. It is very good she noticed this problem, and showed that
maybe some of us use the keyboard a bit less than we should.
Another form element also appears to have a keyboard input problem. The
form element SELECT (which creates a drop-down list or selection box),
has an attribute MULTIPLE which allows multiple selections from the
list. This is normally done with the keyboard (on Windows) by holding
down the Ctrl key and selecting the multiple items on the list using a
mouse. This is not possible with the keyboard alone, and different
browsers responded differently to keystrokes in my attempts to find a
way to make multiple selections. It is possible to make adjacent
selections using the Shift key on graphical browsers, but not
non-adjacent selections, so this control is not good for accessibility
if it has multiple selections. I think it should be replaced using a
group of checkboxes if multiple choices are required.
A select box has a usability value for normal users in that a range of
selections can take up very little space in a graphical interface when
space is at a premium, but that does not make any difference if you
cannot see the page.
Terence de Giere
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From: Carol Foster
Date: Tue, Jan 14 2003 8:24AM
Subject: Re: Another FORM element problem
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There is a fairly obscure way to do multiple selects with a keyboard, at
least in Internet Explorer:
Press SHIFT+F8. Then use up and down arrow keys to move between choices and
use the SPACEBAR to select/de-select individual items.
I found this hidden in the JAWS context-sensitive help a while back. This
is so obscure, though, that I agree that checkboxes would be a better
choice.
Carol
Terence de Giere wrote:
> Another form element also appears to have a keyboard input problem. The
> form element SELECT (which creates a drop-down list or selection box),
> has an attribute MULTIPLE which allows multiple selections from the
> list. This is normally done with the keyboard (on Windows) by holding
> down the Ctrl key and selecting the multiple items on the list using a
> mouse. This is not possible with the keyboard alone, and different
> browsers responded differently to keystrokes in my attempts to find a
> way to make multiple selections. It is possible to make adjacent
> selections using the Shift key on graphical browsers, but not
> non-adjacent selections, so this control is not good for accessibility
> if it has multiple selections. I think it should be replaced using a
> group of checkboxes if multiple choices are required.
>
> A select box has a usability value for normal users in that a range of
> selections can take up very little space in a graphical interface when
> space is at a premium, but that does not make any difference if you
> cannot see the page.
>
> Terence de Giere
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>
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> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view list archives,
> visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
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Carol Foster, Web Developer
Internet Publishing Group, Information Technology Services
University of Massachusetts, President's Office
phone: (413) 587-2130
fax: (413) 587-2148
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http://www.umass-its.net/ipg
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