[WG: Accessibility] Opinion requested regarding the severity of an accessibility issue in Sakai 2x

[Mary Stores]

Hello,

We are beginning to address the outstanding Jira accessibility issues 
that Gonzalo sent, and we would appreciate your comments on our 
determination of the issue. Below is the issue and our comments.

 From Gonzalo’s email:
1.	Select / onchange
A <select /> is used for navigation with an onchage handler that triggers a
form submit [IE 6 and 7]. Keyboard  selection of options becomes 
impossible. Example:
http://jira.sakaiproject.org/browse/SAK-12820

We believe this issue is not a critical issue as listed because users 
of adaptive technology should be familiar with this issue and aware of 
the “Alt+Down Arrow” key combination. Also, in the “Navigation Tips and 
Tricks” section of the Sakai Help system, the first entry describes how 
to navigate combo boxes using alt+Down Arrow to open the combo box and 
the up- and down-arrow keys to scroll through the options without 
selecting anything.

The proposed solution of adding screen reader only text stating 
something like “Use ALT + arrow keys to select a choice. Then hit 
Enter” before each combo box (<select> element) would likely annoy 
screen reader users, as they would be forced to hear it each time they 
navigated the page.

It seems to be an issue of where to draw the line on the skill level 
expected of users in using their web browsing tools.

Another discussion of the onchange event accessibility issue can be 
found here: 
http://cita.disability.uiuc.edu/html-best-practices/auto/onchange.php. 
This page introduces another possible solution of adding a button that 
must be activated before changes in the combo box take effect. This 
would be a more time consuming fix and possibly create usability issues.

Your input as to whether this accessibility issue should remain 
critical or be changed to minor, and towards possible solutions is 
appreciated.

Thanks,

Mary Stores and Brian Richwine