Re: WCAG 2.0 Comment Submission

On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 8:56 AM, <noreply@w3.org> wrote:

>
> Name: Sally Wilson
> Email: dubya32@yahoo.com
> Affiliation:
> Document: W2
> Item Number: (none selected)
> Part of Item:
> Comment Type: technical
> Summary of Issue:
> Comment (Including rationale for any proposed change):
> I am commenting on Principle 2. There seems to be a major oversight
> regarding designing for accessiblity that concerns the excessive use of
> clicking to navigate a website. The guidelines properly address the use of
> keyboard alternatives to the mouse, yet these alternatives do not address
> the use of excessive navigation pathways.
> Anyone with hand/wrist or nervous system disorders will be bothered by BOTH
> use of the mouse and use of the keyboard. Therefore, providing keyboard
> alternatives is not sufficient. Reduction in the necessity of repeated
> navigation is required.
> As an example, when conducting a search in an online database, some sites
> provide an advanced search with multiple fields that allows the user to
> precisely specify a search in one action. Other sites require the user to
> perform a simple search first, and then repeatedly narrow that search
> through hierarchical categories that must be selected (clicked or
> otherwise). The latter requires substantially more physical effort on the
> part of those with digital, joint, or nervous system impairment, and should
> be eschewed.
>
> Proposed Change:
> Recommend that navigation be achieved with the fewest mouse or keyboard
> actions possible.
>
> ================================
Response from the Working Group
================================
Unfortunately, this is not testable. There is no consistent way of knowing
that an action has been designed with the least number of keystrokes
possible. However, we can offer some guidance, by simply saying "Endeavor to
implement keyboard operation as efficiently as possible without an excessive
number of keys for each operation."


Loretta Guarino Reid, WCAG WG Co-Chair
Gregg Vanderheiden, WCAG WG Co-Chair
Michael Cooper, WCAG WG Staff Contact


On behalf of the WCAG Working Group