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Thread: An intersting Problem

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

From: Michael Burks
Date: Tue, Feb 19 2013 6:50AM
Subject: An intersting Problem
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I have an interesting problem.

I am testing a page done in HTML 5. There are checkboxes which are not read by
screen readers as checkboxes. In fact it does not even recognize them as form
fields. However when you turn off the CSS it works just fine. Has anyone
encountered this situation?

Sincerely,

Mike Burks

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Tue, Feb 19 2013 7:10AM
Subject: Re: An intersting Problem
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On 19/02/2013 13:50, Michael Burks wrote:
>
>
> I have an interesting problem.
>
> I am testing a page done in HTML 5. There are checkboxes which are not read by
> screen readers as checkboxes. In fact it does not even recognize them as form
> fields. However when you turn off the CSS it works just fine. Has anyone
> encountered this situation?

Could it be that the CSS sets the actual checkboxes to display:none and
fakes the nice-looking ones with a simple div/span coupled with a click
behavior?

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

From: Michael Burks
Date: Tue, Feb 19 2013 7:21AM
Subject: Re: An intersting Problem
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You make a good point.

However, I looked at the code, and do not see display: none. Also you can see
the checkboxes on the screen. There might be something in the CSS file, but I
cannot get to that, but I would think you would not be able to see the
checkboxes if it was display: none. I am wondering if it has to do with it
being HTML 5 and the support in the various AT we used to test it.

We did submit a question to one of the vendors but do not have an answer as yet.

Sincerely,

Mike Burks




From: Patrick H. Lauke < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Sent: Tue, February 19, 2013 9:10:39 AM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] An intersting Problem

On 19/02/2013 13:50, Michael Burks wrote:
>
>
> I have an interesting problem.
>
> I am testing a page done in HTML 5. There are checkboxes which are not read
by
> screen readers as checkboxes. In fact it does not even recognize them as form
> fields. However when you turn off the CSS it works just fine. Has anyone
> encountered this situation?

Could it be that the CSS sets the actual checkboxes to display:none and
fakes the nice-looking ones with a simple div/span coupled with a click
behavior?

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke
re·dux (adj.): brought back; returned. used postpositively
[latin : re-, re- + dux, leader; see duke.]

www.splintered.co.uk | www.photographia.co.uk
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twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke

From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Tue, Feb 19 2013 7:22AM
Subject: Re: An intersting Problem
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2013-02-19 16:10, Patrick H. Lauke wrote:

> On 19/02/2013 13:50, Michael Burks wrote:
>>
>>
>> I have an interesting problem.
>>
>> I am testing a page done in HTML 5. There are checkboxes which are not read by
>> screen readers as checkboxes. In fact it does not even recognize them as form
>> fields. However when you turn off the CSS it works just fine. Has anyone
>> encountered this situation?
>
> Could it be that the CSS sets the actual checkboxes to display:none and
> fakes the nice-looking ones with a simple div/span coupled with a click
> behavior?

Sounds very probable. Some ARIA attributes might then help to make the
page more accessible (depending on correct use of those attributes and
support to them in the software used).

This has nothing specific to do with the HTML5 language; it can be done
in any version of HTML together with CSS and JavaScript.

Yucca

From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Tue, Feb 19 2013 7:28AM
Subject: Re: An intersting Problem
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2013-02-19 16:21, Michael Burks wrote:

> However, I looked at the code, and do not see display: none.

There are many other ways to hide elements, such as positioning so that
some other element is positioned at the same coordinates with a larger
z-index value.

> Also you can see
> the checkboxes on the screen.

But are they checkboxes or just lookalikes?

> There might be something in the CSS file, but I
> cannot get to that,

If you post the URL, we can analyze the CSS (though it might be too
large and complex for any quick analysis).

Yucca

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Tue, Feb 19 2013 7:33AM
Subject: Re: An intersting Problem
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On 19/02/2013 14:28, Jukka K. Korpela wrote:
> 2013-02-19 16:21, Michael Burks wrote:
>
>> However, I looked at the code, and do not see display: none.
>
> There are many other ways to hide elements, such as positioning so that
> some other element is positioned at the same coordinates with a larger
> z-index value.

But screenreaders wouldn't care about other stuff being visually layered
over the checkboxes. That'd be more of a "I can't click them with my
mouse even though I see them" type issue.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke