[WG: Accessibility] Accessibility] Datepicker question

Thu Feb 27 12:50:49 PST 2014

http://www.mit.edu/~rjc/aria/datepicker.html

This more-or-less works.
It uses the scheme presented in this article:
http://www.deque.com/accessible-jquery-ui-datepicker

I played around for a long time with jQueryUI trying to provide access directly to the calendar table, however things never seemed to work out correctly.  The article referenced above was an aha moment for me - jQueryUI already has keyboard control, so why not use it!  In a keydown handler I just grab the currently highlighted item via css class and extract the info then use the date picker's formatDate method to provide a consistent string which I send to a live region to be spoken by the screen reader.  

The date field is wrapped in  a div with role=”application”; this allows arrow keys to be passed to the datepicker widgit more easily.  You can type a date in the field, or just press one of the four arrows and hear the date change; press enter when done.

The keyboard handler listens for control+arrows and updates live region with a date string (including day) which corresponds to the highlighted cell in calendar.  Typically this live region would be hidden from sighted users.

The other set of keys (bare arrow keys) are handled and simply trigger their corresponding control+arrow counterparts. This is done because Jaws, for some reason, always pops you out of the text field when control+up or control+down is pressed.

I should do something when enter is pressed; right now nothing happens, so the user won’t know something got selected.
I should hide the live region (message area).

Comments/questions?

-- Rich Calogger, MIT ATIC

From: Matt Clare 
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2014 2:27 PM
To: Gonzalo Silverio ; Humbert, Joseph A 
Cc: accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org 
Subject: Re: [WG: Accessibility] Datepicker question

A quick check matches Gonzalo's experience.

Just to clarify, Message Center/Forums, Assignments & Polls also use this picker too.  They all have single input box dates that must be in a specific format that they in some cases provide an example of, but no instructions for.

Resources, Samigo use a new-window picker called the "Tigra Calendar" which is a not-very accessible picker but they use a discrete form item for each element (one for day, one for month…) which ensures users don't need to use that one.

Gradebook and Signup use yet another, Apache MyFaces Calendar, which is really inaccessible, but the form items are either discrete (one for day, one for month….) or the label has an example.

I really don't know what someone using an alternative interface would prefer.  Discrete form controls are well supported and familiar, but the single form item and date picker itself have obvious expediences for most users.  Just as obvious is the value in harmonizing here, but again, around which model?

I'd love to hear comments,

.\.\att

Matt Clare
Manager, eLearning
Centre for Pedagogical Innovation 
Part-time Instructor
Interactive Arts and Sciences
Brock University, Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada
http://brocku.ca/pedagogical-innovation    905 688 5550 xt 4539   Office: SBH321

From: Gonzalo Silverio <gsilver at umich.edu>
Date: Thursday, February 27, 2014 at 1:47 PM
To: "Humbert, Joseph A" <johumber at iu.edu>
Cc: "accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org" <accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org>
Subject: Re: [WG: Accessibility] Datepicker question

Latest checkins are from January. Not sure if these have changed it in the essentials. An update: the slider for picking a time is not keyboard accessible, AFAIK.  Cannot pass focus to it and use keys to increment or decrement. 

  -Gonzalo

On Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 1:37 PM, Humbert, Joseph A <johumber at iu.edu> wrote:

  Has the datepicker that will be used been updated since September 2013?

  Sincerely,

  From: Gonzalo Silverio [mailto:gsilver at umich.edu] 
  Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2014 1:35 PM
  To: Humbert, Joseph A
  Cc: Neal Caidin; accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
  Subject: Re: [WG: Accessibility] Datepicker question

  Deque seems to approve.[1]

  A little bit of testing seems to back that up. I can navigate the picker with the keyboard, although it feels weird that the field retains focus.

  But this should certainly be looked into, looks like it is the default in trunk in all the core tools. At the very least it should be documented for users.

     -Gonzalo

  http://www.deque.com/blog/accessible-jquery-ui-datepicker/

  On Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 1:25 PM, Humbert, Joseph A <johumber at iu.edu> wrote:

  I have not.

  Sincerely,
  Joe

  -----Original Message-----
  From: accessibility-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org [mailto:accessibility-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org] On Behalf Of Neal Caidin
  Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2014 1:23 PM
  To: accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
  Subject: [WG: Accessibility] Datepicker question

  Hi Accessibility group,

  Has a11y verified this date/time picker for accessibility?

  https://jira.sakaiproject.org/browse/SAK-23662

  Thanks,
  Neal

  --
  Neal Caidin
  Sakai Community Coordinator
  Apereo Foundation
  neal.caidin at apereo.org
  Skype me! (but let me know in advance for the first interaction) - nealkdin

  _______________________________________________
  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"

  -- 
  - Gonzalo 

-- 
- Gonzalo 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
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"
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://collab.sakaiproject.org/pipermail/accessibility/attachments/20140227/21c0b825/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 328 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://collab.sakaiproject.org/pipermail/accessibility/attachments/20140227/21c0b825/attachment.gif 