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Thread: Sortable Table Question
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From: Miller, Lisa F (LMS)
Date: Tue, Apr 01 2003 10:45AM
Subject: Sortable Table Question
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My question concerns tables which allow the contents to be sorted on the
page by clicking on one of the header titles. The table is then sorted
based on that column. My question - does this cause a problem for
accessibility? My guess would be 'Yes'. If the page is resorted, does the
user have to start over reading the table at the top each time? Or do they
stay somewhere in the middle of the table, where the row they are on may
have just changed? Has anyone run across this? Any opinions?
Thanks,
Lisa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To err is human; to forgive is good user interface design.
Lisa F. Miller
BWXT Y-12 Technical Computing
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = Phone: 574-8946
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From: John Foliot - bytown internet
Date: Tue, Apr 01 2003 11:38AM
Subject: RE: Sortable Table Question
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What method is being employed to "re-order" the table? My first guess is
that since it is probably a page re-fresh the screen readers would probably
start over again at row 1, cell 1.
JF
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Miller, Lisa F (LMS) [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 12:39 PM
> To: Web AIM Forum (E-mail)
> Subject: Sortable Table Question
>
>
> My question concerns tables which allow the contents to be sorted on the
> page by clicking on one of the header titles. The table is then sorted
> based on that column. My question - does this cause a problem for
> accessibility? My guess would be 'Yes'. If the page is
> resorted, does the
> user have to start over reading the table at the top each time?
> Or do they
> stay somewhere in the middle of the table, where the row they are on may
> have just changed? Has anyone run across this? Any opinions?
>
> Thanks,
> Lisa
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> To err is human; to forgive is good user interface design.
>
> Lisa F. Miller
> BWXT Y-12 Technical Computing
> Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = Phone: 574-8946
>
>
> ----
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view list archives,
> visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
>
>
>
>
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From: Joel Ward
Date: Tue, Apr 01 2003 11:47AM
Subject: Re: Sortable Table Question
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> What method is being employed to "re-order" the table? My first guess is
> that since it is probably a page re-fresh the screen readers would
probably
> start over again at row 1, cell 1.
And I don't see how this is necessarily a bad thing. If a table is
re-sorted, wouldn't you need to start reading it over again since items are
in a different order? Otherwise, how would you know where to start
re-reading the table?
Lisa, are you worried that some assistive technology would not start reading
the page over if it was re-sorted?
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From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Tue, Apr 01 2003 12:04PM
Subject: Re: Sortable Table Question
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Lisa,
For someone using a screen reader, I believe they will have to start at the top of the table every time the sorting order is changed. Probably, the screen reader will do that if the page is refreshed. However, the user will need to move focus up to the column headings in order to be able to select one.
For example, if you had a table with address information in it... In order for a person using something like a screen reader to cause the table information to be sorted by State, the user would need to click on the column heading. To make the column headings "clickable" for someone using assistive technologies, like screen readers, the user would need to be able to use the keyboard to click on the heading. This means the column headings will need to be some kind of accessible interactive element such as a link or button.
In my case, I use a screen reader. If I were using such an interface, it might go something like this.
I find out I will be taking a business trip to Atlanta. I figure while I am there, I want to see if I can meet with some of my accessibility colleagues there.
Once I get to the table, I decide I want to sort by City. So first, I tab to the City link and press enter. The table resorts and I start reading from the top of the table. While I am looking up colleagues on the address table, I receive a phone call from a developer. She wants to know the e-mail address for our contact at company XYZ. Since I am down in the table, I back tab (Shift+Tab) back to the Company link where I press enter again. Now I can go look up the contact for that company.
I hope this information is helpful.
Thanks,
Tim
-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 11:39 AM
To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Subject: Sortable Table Question
My question concerns tables which allow the contents to be sorted on the
page by clicking on one of the header titles. The table is then sorted
based on that column. My question - does this cause a problem for
accessibility? My guess would be 'Yes'. If the page is resorted, does the
user have to start over reading the table at the top each time? Or do they
stay somewhere in the middle of the table, where the row they are on may
have just changed? Has anyone run across this? Any opinions?
Thanks,
Lisa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To err is human; to forgive is good user interface design.
Lisa F. Miller
BWXT Y-12 Technical Computing
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = Phone: 574-8946