RE: Consumers combat pop-ups with software, Tricks

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> Can you make a Javascript "Pop-up Window" accessible to screen
> readers (for
> those visually impaired) by including the "noscript" tag
> containing the text
> of the window?  A co-worker saw this on the WC3 site and says
> that it will
> allow  a screen reader to access the content.  However, will it
> still be  confusing for the visually imaired as indicated in the
> cnet artile?
>
> Should the use of pop-up windows be avoided all together?

Like most things it depends on how and why you are using it.

If the pop-up is triggered by a link then try something like the
following:

<a href="page.html"
onclick="open('page.html','nameOfWindow','height=100,width=200[etc]');
eturn false">text of link</a>

Then in the case of a non-javascript browser you get the same data
(or possibly a different version). This tends to be less confusing
for screen-readers. You do not get some of the advantages of pop-ups,
sizing and the fact that the other window is still there, but these
are irrelevant in many cases, and overestimated in most others IMHO.

If you include a target on the link you get the best of 3 worlds
since those browsers which support opening new windows, but not
javascript (NS2.0+ with javascript turned off) get a new window,
albeit not sized as you might desire.

If the pop-up happens when you load the page then put the content in
a <noscript> block. Remember you don't need to phrase the same
information in exactly the same way as in the pop-up. It should be
possible to give the same information to the non pop-up enabled
browser in an unconfusing way if you put the pop-up out of your mind
entirely when deciding what goes in the <noscript> block.

Pop-ups probably are still best avoided though, especially in this
case. If I go to a page and it starts a pop-up I hit Alt-F4 before
it's even connected as they are simply annoying.

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Received on Thursday, 8 February 2001 06:18:32 UTC