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Thread: DHTML and Screen Readers?
Number of posts in this thread: 3 (In chronological order)
From: Amy Salmon
Date: Wed, Nov 30 2005 1:00PM
Subject: DHTML and Screen Readers?
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Hello Listers -
I am working on an article reviewing the three primary screen readers - JAWS
7.0, Hal 6.51 and Window-Eyes 5.5. I am hoping you, the experts, can provide
me with some explanation of a few things. Window-Eyes promotes its new
version 5.5 as supporting dhtml. I am aware of what the acronym dhtml means
but that is about as far as my knowledge extends. Could someone please
explain to me what dhtml means and why it is important that Window-Eyes 5.5
now fully supports dhtml? Also, how important is dhtml to the screen reader
user and do the other screen readers (JAWS and Hal) support dhtml? I
appreciate any assistance on this topic.
Sincerely,
Amy R. Salmon
President
ComputAbility Today
704 2nd Street West
Altoona, WI 54720
Phone: (715) 852-0325
Fax: (715) 852-0328
E-Mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
From: Austin, Darrel
Date: Wed, Nov 30 2005 3:40PM
Subject: RE: DHTML and Screen Readers?
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> I am working on an article reviewing the three primary screen
> readers - JAWS 7.0, Hal 6.51 and Window-Eyes 5.5. I am hoping
> you, the experts, can provide me with some explanation of a
> few things. Window-Eyes promotes its new version 5.5 as
> supporting dhtml. I am aware of what the acronym dhtml means
> but that is about as far as my knowledge extends. Could
> someone please explain to me what dhtml means and why it is
> important that Window-Eyes 5.5 now fully supports dhtml?
> Also, how important is dhtml to the screen reader user and do
> the other screen readers (JAWS and Hal) support dhtml? I
> appreciate any assistance on this topic.
DHTML is pretty much the old buzzword that has been superseded by the
new buzzword AJAX. Basically a combination of HTML, CSS and Javascript
(with AJAX adding the XMLHttpRequest).
So, follow the AJAX thread and you'll find pretty much the answers you
are looking for.
In terms of accessibility, javascript can be a problem if:
- it is required to execute a function on the site (meaning those
without javascript can't actually use the functionality of the
site)
- if it updates the content of the page without a new page
request (which some screen readers may not 'catch' and know enough/
how to properly communicate the updated text).
-Darrel
From: Tim Beadle
Date: Thu, Dec 01 2005 2:20AM
Subject: Re: DHTML and Screen Readers?
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On 30/11/05, Austin, Darrel < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> DHTML is pretty much the old buzzword that has been superseded by the
> new buzzword AJAX. Basically a combination of HTML, CSS and Javascript
> (with AJAX adding the XMLHttpRequest).
Just a point of accuracy: Ajax is just a subset of DOM Scripting (the
new name for DHTML - basically JavaScript) that involves remotely
accessing data and services, while dynamically updating the page with
the new data.
Get a copy of Jeremy Keith's DOM Scripting [1] or Stuart Langridge's
DHTML Utopia [2]. They're both big on progressive enhancement, that is
applications that work in their basic form (HTML only) and then have
layers of presentation (CSS) and behaviour (DOM Scripting) added on
top for those user agents that can handle them.
Regards,
Tim
[1] http://domscripting.com/book/
[2] http://www.sitepoint.com/books/dhtml1/