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Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)

From: Gary Williamson
Date: Wed, Nov 29 2006 3:40AM
Subject: Accessible Drop Down menus using Form tag
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I'm looking for clarification about making drop down menus accessible. W3C recently produced an exemplar accessibility site at http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/2005/Demo/after/

Which uses a drop-down menu, created with a Form tag with a Go button but I can't find any reference to why this is considered 'good practice' in their evaluation. Does anyone know why this method is considered the best, apart from that it doesn't use JavaScript?

Thanks

Gary

From: Alastair Campbell
Date: Wed, Nov 29 2006 4:00AM
Subject: Re: Accessible Drop Down menus using Form tag
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> Does anyone know why this method is considered the best,
> apart from that it doesn't use JavaScript?

I would assume because it doesn't use an "onchange" event, which is
tricky with a keyboard. Unless you know a particular key-combination
(possibly alt-down?) the event fires on the first change.

I.e. Without a 'go' button, you press down to get the next option and it
sends you to the page.

Kind regards,

-Alastair

--
Alastair Campbell | Director of User Experience

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From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Wed, Nov 29 2006 6:20AM
Subject: Re: Accessible Drop Down menus using Form tag
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>> Does anyone know why this method is considered the best, apart from
>> that it doesn't use JavaScript?
>
>I would assume because it doesn't use an "onchange" event,
>which is tricky with a keyboard. Unless you know a particular
>key-combination (possibly alt-down?) the event fires on the
>first change.

I took a quick look at the Before and After demos. That seems to be the
difference between them with regards to the drop down list--the example
with the accessibility problems takes you to the new page as soon as you
press the down arrow--unless you use alt+down arrow first. In the
accessible example, you need to press the Go button before it will act
on your new selection.

I need to look at my browser history from last night. I came across a
site that did what the bad example does--and I was even having problems
getting the alt+down arrow trick to work. It is really
frustrating--especially when it appears that all that stands between
where you are and where you want to be is a little widget with an
annoying behaviour.

Tim

From: Austin, Darrel
Date: Wed, Nov 29 2006 9:40AM
Subject: Re: Accessible Drop Down menus using Form tag
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> Does anyone
> know why this method is considered the best, apart from that
> it doesn't use JavaScript?

It's preferred for the very reason you state: it doesn't require
javascript.

I, personally, also find it more usable. If I see a menu like this, I
don't know what's under it, so I might click on it just to see the
options. Often, if I accidently click on an item just to close it, it
will automatically trigger the javscript and take me to a different page
when that wasn't necessarily my intention. Very annoying.

-Darrel

From: Spruill Kevin
Date: Wed, Nov 29 2006 2:00PM
Subject: Re: Accessible Drop Down menus using Form tag
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Gary,

The Demo explanations, unfortunately are not very clear - however at the
bottom of this page http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/2005/Demo/features
They discuss the problems with the page template. The essential reason
for the drop down being inaccessible is it's use of the onchange
event... Their specific citation is:

5.11.2. Keyboard Shortcuts
The following WCAG 1.0 checkpoint relates to keyboard shortcuts:

Checkpoint 9.5 Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including
those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form
controls. [Priority 3]

A clearer explanation (in my opinion, and one I've used in the past) is
related to some of the comments you've received re: keyboard control and
access, specifically lack thereof


Kevin Spruill
IT Specialist
Information Resources Accessibility Program
OS:CIO:ES:BI:CS:IRAP:IT
Phone: (202) 283-7059
IRAP Web site: http://irap.web.irs.gov

From: Shawn Henry
Date: Sat, Dec 02 2006 5:50PM
Subject: Re: Accessible Drop Down menus using Form tag
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WebAIM folks,

> W3C recently produced an exemplar accessibility site at http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/2005/Demo/after/

The page cited is part of a draft resource that W3C WAI[1] is developing. The resource is to demonstrate accessibility barriers in an example Web site, along with the same Web pages re-coded to fix the barriers. Information about the demonstration project is in a draft introductory page "About the Before and After Demonstration", currently at:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/2005/Demo/Overview
The final resource will have refined descriptions and be at a different URI Web address.

If you would like to get notice when we complete the project and announce the resource, you can:
* subscribe to the WAI Interest Group (IG) mailing list, see:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/IG/#mailinglist
* subscribe to the WAI Highlights RSS feed, see:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/highlights/about-rss.html

Regards,
~ Shawn

[1] World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) http://w3.org/wai/

------------------
Shawn Lawton Henry
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
e-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
phone: +1.617.395.7664
about: http://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/