RE: New internal draft of HTML techniques

Paul Bohman: Is it "allowable" to create a form label using an image? I have
discouraged this when I teach others about Web accessibility, but I see that
technique used quite a bit, and there are plenty of people who want to use
the image-label technique.

Jim Thatcher: If screen text is available the label element should be used.
If not, the title attribute should be used. I think this image hack should
not be encouraged as "a W3C-sanctioned technique".

Paul: ... the preferred method of providing a label for the [radio button]
group is with the fieldset and legend tags. 

Jim: I agree this should be encouraged. Here's a code sample:

<fieldset border-style: none;>
<legend>2. What is the effective date of the new purchase rules for business
combinations?</legend>
<input type=radio id="c2.1" name="c2.1" >&nbsp;<label for="c2.3">April 1,
2001</label> <br />
<input type=radio id="c2.2" name="c2.2" >&nbsp;<label for="c2.2">April 2,
2002</label> <br />
<input type=radio id="c2.3" name="c2.3" >&nbsp;<label for="c2.3">April 3,
2003</label> <br />
</fieldset>

Paul: Using tabindex increases the complexity of the design, and increases
the possibility of introducing tab order problems at the same time that
you're trying to fix them.

Jim: I agree and think exactly those words should be included in the
technique.

Jim
Accessibility, What Not to do: http://jimthatcher.com/whatnot.htm.
Web Accessibility Tutorial: http://jimthatcher.com/webcourse1.htm.

Received on Tuesday, 27 July 2004 15:30:14 UTC