RE: [Techs] CSS and invisible labels for forms

Gez Lemon[JMS]  wrote:
<blockquote> 
>From the IRC log of the 1 September tech call:

	 
	> 15:45:40 [wendy] = needed labels for field but didn't want to
use visual lable.
	> 15:45:45 [wendy] = jim uses title.
	 
	Relying on imparting information through the title alone would
cause problems with the likes of JAWS. JAWS can be configured to read
the title for images and links, but doesn't do so by default. I'm not
sure whether the title can be read when applied to other elements, but I
suspect not.
	[JMS] 
	</blockquote>
	John Slatin replies: JAWS, Window-Eyes, and IBM Home Page Reader
all speak the title attribute on form controls. If there is no <label>
element, the title is spoken by default.  JAWS 5.x can also be
configured to speak both the <label> element and the title attribute if
they are different. I don't know if Window-Eyes and HPR have this
ability. But I am certain about JAWS, Window-Eyes, and HPR speaking the
title attribute and have tested it many times.
	 
	John 
	 
	John Slatin wrote: 
	 
	> Cautionary note: is it a good idea to develop/recommend a CSS
	> technique that depends on the screen reader picking up content
	> that isn't supposed to be displayed? A "future" technique that
	> used display:hidden plus an @media: reader might be
interesting, 
	> on the other hand...
	 
	Unfortunately, there are known problems with using display: none
with screen readers [1], and from what I understand, the aural media
selected is poorly supported with today's screen readers. It could be
argued that poor support of standards is outside the jurisdiction of
content developers, but if we're providing techniques, they should
reflect the current state of the assistive technology market.
	 
	The technique proposed by Bob Easton in [1] is neat, but I would
add overflow: hidden to the rule to ensure that text doesn't bleed into
the display area:
	 
	.off-left
	{
	    position: absolute;
	    left: -99em;
	    width: 90em;
	    overflow: hidden;
	}
	

	[1] http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=ScreenreaderVisibility
	 
	Best regards,
	 
	Gez
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