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

[Michael S Elledge]

Hi Everyone--

I would agree with Lucia's comment. The reason I flagged this as an 
issue is that we have found screen reader users often don't know that 
the alt+down arrow key combination is necessary to access drop down 
menus. Well-trained or expert users will, but the average screen reader 
user may not, and will think they are doing something wrong or that it 
is broken.

My two cents.

Mike

LUCIA GRECO wrote:
> Hello:
>  As a vary comment screen reader user and a trainer of students. I think the
> stamen that people know how to use alt down arrow is pure insanity. Remember
> that most people are captured in the first 30 seconds. So the first time
> they hit this it is over they don't want to use the tool ever again and will
> not even know how to go back or fix or even care about what went wrong. Most
> users don't know to use that key combo. And if you're a keyboard only user
> with say a single key entry. I-E a mouth stick now it's more work again. 
> Lastly there is no reason to justify bad coding it should be a on select and
> not on change. This goes beyond critical in to show stopper  
>
> Lucia Greco
> University of California, Berkeley Disabled Students' Program
> Assistive Technologies Specialist
> http://attlc.berkeley.edu
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessibility-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org
> [mailto:accessibility-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org] On Behalf Of Mary
> Stores
> Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 11:06 AM
> To: accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
> Subject: [WG: Accessibility] Opinion requested regarding the severity of an
> accessibility issue in Sakai 2x
>
> 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
>
>
>
>
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