Re: HTML5 DL Element vs. WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria

I guess my question is this: Is it really "bad web design" to use the DL,
DT, and DD elements exactly as they were intended to be used (in the case
of creating a glossary, for example, or something reasonably similar) just
because screen readers aren't implementing it correctly? Put another way,
do we stop using the correct element for the job just because of poor
implementation, or do we continue to use the correct element and let the
screen reader makers know about the issues?


On 2/7/14 12:24 AM, "Jan Eric Hellbusch" <hellbusch@2bweb.de> wrote:

>Thanks, Ramón,
>
>> Definition lists are not accessibility supported. Period.
>
>As a screen reader user I have always thought of definition lists as bad
>web
>design. I use JAWS and of course it is the way JAWS deals with definition
>lists. My usual way of navigating through content ist with Ctrl+arrow keys
>and when it komes to definition lists, JAWS will join the DD with the
>following DT and not the DT with its following DDs. I am running JAWS 13
>with IE11 here and it is still that way.
>
>[...]
> 
>> I admit that tables might not be the best solution and that they look
>> "ugly" in terms of semantics, but they are quite more accessibility
>> supported and far more easy to understand. Even simple <ul> or <ol>
>> lists have better support; at least the screen readers announce a
>> "nesting level" that conveys an extra piece of "relationship".
>
>You get the nesting levels with DL as well.
>
>Tables are a lot easier to use in a screen reader than DL for 2 column
>data.
>In some situations it might be semantically prettier to use DL, but what
>counts is how users can deal with code.
>
>Jan
>
>
>--
>Jan Eric Hellbusch
>Tel.: +49 (231) 33005825 oder +49 (163) 3369925
>Accessibility-Beratung: http://2bweb.de
>Blog: www.chemnitzer-14.de
>Bücher, Artikel: www.barrierefreies-webdesign.de
>
>
>
>

Received on Friday, 7 February 2014 18:21:20 UTC