RE: webwatch-l More on AT&T: http://www.att.com/catalog

		We don’t have “information commands” on regular dialogs –
why do we need one for an HTML form? 

				-----Original Message-----
				From:	Scott Luebking
[mailto:phoenixl@netcom.com]
				Sent:	Friday, March 13, 1998 10:13 AM
				To:	w3c-wai-ua@w3.org
				Subject:	Re:  webwatch-l More on
AT&T: http://www.att.com/catalog

				Hi, Kelly
				Thanks for your posting.  Some of us are
collecting scenarios of problems
				to analyze.

				The HTML 4.0 has a new tag called LABEL
which associates label information
				with a field.  An idea I'm proposing to the
browser group in the WAI
				is that the browser provides an information
command or menu item
				for each form field.  The blind user could
then use the command to
				ask the browser display information about
the field including label.
				Would that approach make it easier for you
to use the form?

				Scott


				> Kelly
				> Hi All,
				> 
				> Yesterday I mentioned difficulties with
the online ordering process with
				> AT&T's consumer catalog web site.  I have
a little more information about
				> this that I thought I'd share.
				> 
				> The largest difficulty I encountered was
in attempting to fill out a rather
				> lengthy form that the site requires once
you've ordered a telephone
				> service.  It would appear that the text
prompts for what to enter into each
				> edit box actually appear below the boxes
where you are to enter the
				> information.  The end result, when using a
program like Internet Explorer
				> and tabbing through the page, is that in
just about every case, the text
				> for what to enter isn't even appearing on
the screen when you tab into the
				> appropriate edit box.  One solution I've
found is to hit the Page Down key
				> once in an actual edit box.  This seems to
scroll the screen enough that
				> you can manually read below where you are
typing and get some idea of what
				> to enter.  Another solution, or at least
tool to try, is selecting all the
				> text with CTRL-A, and putting it into
another application.  You can't
				> actually fill out the form this way but it
tends to descramble the
				> complicated page layout into something
much more linear in fashion giving
				> you a bit of a clue as to the order of
prompts you will encounter.
				> 
				> Of course a more screen reader friendly
web design and better access tools
				> are the real solution but they seem fairly
far off when you get right down
				> to it in my opinion.  This isn't to be
critical of all the web
				> accessibility efforts but rather to say
that the problem is really immense
				> as far as I can tell.
				> 
				> If anyone has some good contacts with
AT&T's web efforts I'd certainly like
				> to know about them.  Thus far the best I
can do is find a feedback form on
				> the web site.  If you go to
				> 
				>
http://www.att.com/cgi-bin/ATT_WEB/feedback?id=wts_catalog_cons
				> 
				> you will be in a form that you can
complete.  Unlike the ordering forms,
				> the text prompts for what to enter on this
page appear to be above the
				> actual edit boxes.  The order of these
prompts is:
				> 
				> Your Name:
				> Your Email:
				> Your Phone Number:
				> Subject:
				> Message Text:
				> Submit
				> 
				> If you want more info about how to enter
ordering information feel free to
				> drop me a note.  I now have an idea of
what to enter and exactly how it has
				> to be input.
				> 
				> Again if anyone has contacts in AT&T it
would sure be nice to speak with them.
				> 
				> Kelly

Received on Monday, 16 March 1998 17:03:18 UTC