Re: onclick and onkeypress scripting technique issue

See issue below:


---------------------- Forwarded by Phill Jenkins/Austin/IBM on 04/17/2002
08:56 AM ---------------------------

Wendy A Chisholm <wendy@w3.org> on 04/16/2002 05:47:07 PM

To:    Phill Jenkins/Austin/IBM@IBMUS, gv@trace.wisc.edu, "Ian Jacobs"
       <ij@w3.org>
cc:    Andi Snow-Weaver/Austin/IBM@IBMUS
Subject:    Re: onclick and onkeypress scripting technique issue



Phil,

Please forward this on to the WCAG WG (w3c-wai-gl@w3.org).  Matt May and
others in the group are working on an updated version of the HTML
Techniques [1].  We are also working on a client-side scripting techniques
document [2].

Thanks,
--wendy

[1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/WD-WCAG20-HTMLTECHS-20011118.html
[2] http://www.learningdifficulty.org/develop/w3c-scripts.html

At 05:26 PM 4/16/02, Phill Jenkins wrote:
>To: HTML techniques editors
>
>In the WCAG HTML techniques [1] about making scripts directly accessible,
>it says to <quote> provide redundant input mechanisms. In other words,
>specify two handlers for the same element such as "onclick" with
>"onkeypress" <endquote>.  This practice seems to be causing problems
>because the IE 5.5 browser (for example) sends two events to the server
>when using the keyboard, but only one event when using the mouse.  IE maps
>the keyboard to some mouse events, such as allowing the user to tab to the
>form controls and pressing the enter key instead of using the mouse to
>trigger the event, so the second onkeypress event is not necessary.
>
>1. Is it IE that has a bug?  What about Netscape, Opera, Lynx, etc
>2. What about the assumption of the User Agents capability and other
>software standards?
>
>508 and UAAG all require the ability to do with the keyboard what can be
>done with the mouse.  IE and other browsers should allow the user to
access
>the controls with only the keyboard.  Techniques and standards should not
>require or put burden on the content author that causes problems,
>especially when the burden should and is being handled by the user agent.
>Why add on keypress when the device or agent is capable of the mapping?
>
>So, what is a web developer to do?  Following the techniques causes
>problems.
>
>The technique seems to have been established in Feb 1999, or at least that
>is when the issue [2] was raised and resolved.  But, in my opinion,
>resolved incorrectly with today's browser capabilities and today's UAAG
>standard [3].  In other words, a new issue should be logged.
>
>[1] Directly Accessible Scripts
>http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#directly-accessible-scripts
>[2] Device independent
>http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/wai-gl-tech-issues.html#dd-events
>[3] UAAG requirement
>http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/CR-UAAG10-20010912/guidelines.html#gl-device-independence

>
>Regards,
>Phill Jenkins
>IBM Research Division - Accessibility Center
>11501 Burnet Rd,  Austin TX  78758    http://www.ibm.com/able

--
wendy a chisholm
world wide web consortium
web accessibility initiative
seattle, wa usa
/--

Received on Wednesday, 17 April 2002 09:58:16 UTC