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

Thu Feb 4 07:41:17 PST 2010

Hi all,

Many thanks for the great input.

Another example that may be worth looking at:

http://www.themaninblue.com/experiment/AccessibleSelect/

It seems very comprehensive. The changes required to the code would be more
extensive, but worth it if it meets the needs.

Thanks.

    -Gonzalo 

On 2/3/10 5:36 PM, "Richwine, Brian L" <brichwin at indiana.edu> wrote:

> Philip,
> 
> It works great with the keyboard, but I had difficulty getting it to work with
> my mouse in Firefox 3.5.7 on Windows 7. As soon as I click on the down arrow
> or the body of the combo box, it changes pages on me.
> 
> -Brian
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessibility-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org
> [mailto:accessibility-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org] On Behalf Of Phil
> Kragnes
> Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 5:14 PM
> To: 'Michael S Elledge'; 'LUCIA GRECO'
> Cc: accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
> Subject: Re: [WG: Accessibility] Accessibility] Opinion requested regarding
> the severity of an accessibility issue in Sakai 2x
> 
> Attached is an acccessible dropdown example.  I do not know if there are any
> browser conflicts.
> 
> Philip M Kragnes, MS
> Computer Accommodations Program
> University of Minnesota
> McNamara Alumni Center
> 200 Oak Street SE, Suite 180
> Minneapolis, MN 55455-2002
> Phone: (612) 626-0365
> Fax: (612) 626-9654
> http://cap.umn.edu
> 
> Consider being an organ donor!
> More information http://www.fairviewtransplant.org
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessibility-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org
> [mailto:accessibility-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org] On Behalf Of Michael S
> Elledge
> Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 3:48 PM
> To: LUCIA GRECO
> Cc: accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
> Subject: Re: [WG: Accessibility] Accessibility] Opinion requested regarding
> the severity of an accessibility issue in Sakai 2x
> 
> 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
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> accessibility mailing list
>> accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
>> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/accessibility
>> 
>> TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send email to
>> accessibility-unsubscribe at collab.sakaiproject.org with a subject of
>> "unsubscribe"
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> accessibility mailing list
>> accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
>> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/accessibility
>> 
>> TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send email to
> accessibility-unsubscribe at collab.sakaiproject.org with a subject of
> "unsubscribe"
>> 
>> 
>>  
> _______________________________________________
> accessibility mailing list
> accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/accessibility
> 
> TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send email to
> accessibility-unsubscribe at collab.sakaiproject.org with a subject of
> "unsubscribe"
> _______________________________________________
> accessibility mailing list
> accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/accessibility
> 
> TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send email to
> accessibility-unsubscribe at collab.sakaiproject.org with a subject of
> "unsubscribe"