Re: Seeking guidance...

Interesting question.

At the moment there is no way to make this happen on the client side - you
always need some kind of server-side solution (such as the submenu, although
there are fancier things you could do which would hit your server harder).

You could make this more directly accesssible for those with script-capable
browsers by adding an onfocus method, but I need to think for a minute how
that works for turning things off (since the focus will shift to a bit of the
submenu...).

It might not be very easy to do this in HTML. An interesting question is that
use of submenus that are not available on the main page unless you process
scripts, and the effect this has on the accessibility of the site. The
obvious issue is that you are required to use a different navigation path if
you have a browser that canot handle scripts. But then, you can use both
paths if you do handle scripts.

thoughts anyone?

Charles McCN


On Wed, 5 Apr 2000, Crystal Allen wrote:

  Charles,
  
  Thanks for the useful info.
  
  Expanding my question into an area where my knowledge is limited, is it
  possible to make pop-up menus that are generated by a mouseover accessible?
  An example is the main menu at http://webaim.org (accessibility note: though
  the pop-up menus on this page may not be directly accessible, an equivalent
  to the menus is provided in the form of a submenu on each page).  Is there a
  way to make the pop-up menu directly accessible so that an alternative
  (submenu) does not need to be provided?
  
  Thanks,
  Crystal Allen
  
  
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: "Charles McCathieNevile" <charles@w3.org>
  To: "Crystal Allen" <crystal@cpd2.usu.edu>
  Cc: "Melinda Morris-Black" <melinda@ink.org>; "Accessibility Listserve"
  <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
  Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2000 12:27 PM
  Subject: Re: Seeking guidance...
  
  
  > Making HTML 4 mouseover effects accessible to keyboard users is pretty
  > trivial - add an onfocus/onblur to each element that matches the
  > onmouseover/onmouseout.
  >
  > Making the effects accessible is more complex. It is still important not
  to
  > rely on the effects of scripts for providing people with important
  > functionality, but there are a couple of thigs you can do. THe goal would
  be
  > to ensure that the alternative content provided for an image was updated
  at
  > the same time as the image was changed by a mouseover. There are other
  uses
  > where there is only "accessible" content being affected in the first
  place,
  > and in that case the important thing is that the user know what is going
  to
  > happen, rather than beng surprised by the way a page works benig changed
  > seemingly arbitrarily. Although many blind users do not use a mouse, most
  > computers have them , and particularly in the case of touch-pad mice such
  as
  > are ommon on laptops, the user may not know where the mouse is. (Or they
  may
  > have been using mousekeys, and know precisely where it is...)
  >
  > Sorry that this is only a partial answer for the moment.
  >
  > regards
  >
  > Charles McCN
  >
  > On Wed, 5 Apr 2000, Crystal Allen wrote:
  >
  >   Is there a way to make mouseovers accessible?  If anyone could enlighten
  me
  >   with a technique to do this it would be much appreciated.
  >
  >   Crystal Allen
  >
  >
  >   ----- Original Message -----
  >   From: "Melinda Morris-Black" <melinda@ink.org>
  >   To: "Accessibility Listserve" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
  >   Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2000 9:13 AM
  >   Subject: Seeking guidance...
  >
  >
  >   > The issues surrounding inclusion of Javascript and accessibility are a
  >   > little confusing. I'm looking to the list for clarification. What
  >   > types/elements of scripts seem to be at issue? I know mouseovers are
  >   > accessible if tagged correctly. However, I've heard negative feedback
  >   > related to using Javascript forms. Any info on this subject is greatly
  >   > appreciated.
  >   >
  >   > I've included a specific example of a script I'm checking for
  >   > accessibility. It generates a rotating list of links on the home page.
  >   >
  >   > http://www.state.ct.us/
  >   >
  >   > Any feedback related to the accessibility is welcome.
  >   >
  >   > --
  >   > Regards,
  >   >
  >   > Melinda Morris-Black
  >   > melinda@ink.org
  >   >
  >   >
  >
  >
  > --
  > Charles McCathieNevile    mailto:charles@w3.org    phone: +61 (0) 409 134
  136
  > W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
  http://www.w3.org/WAI
  > Location: I-cubed, 110 Victoria Street, Carlton VIC 3053
  > Postal: GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne 3001,  Australia
  >
  

--
Charles McCathieNevile    mailto:charles@w3.org    phone: +61 (0) 409 134 136
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative                      http://www.w3.org/WAI
Location: I-cubed, 110 Victoria Street, Carlton VIC 3053
Postal: GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne 3001,  Australia

Received on Thursday, 6 April 2000 10:10:38 UTC