- From: Joe Clark <joeclark@joeclark.org>
- Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 12:14:39 -0400
- To: WAI-GL <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
I ran this posting-- <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2005AprJun/0767.html> -- by Peter-Paul Koch <http://Quirksmode.org/>, who, along with Jeremy Keith <http://adactio.com/>, is a leading proponent of responsible JavaScript usage. He writes: >Example 1: > >- JavaScript and CSS available and enabled > >>"With JavaScript, the onchange event can be used on each individual >>from control to validate the data as it is entered or changed. A >>JavaScript alert can notify the user of the error. CSS can be used >>to style the label for the input field to indicate the field in >>error. See the code example below. " > >Bad practice! Sure, this can be done, but it's better to > >a) check the form onsubmit, because the user wouldn't like to get >all sorts of alerts while he busy filling out a form > >b) not use alerts; it's far more user friendly to write the error >messages next to the form fields >(http://www.quirksmode.org/dom/error.html) > >Note that these are *usability* best practices. > >- JavaScript and CSS available but disabled > >There is no difference between this case and the HTML only case. > >>"In the example below if JavaScript is not available the onchange >>event will not fire and no client side validation will occur. " > >A bit overdone. If JavaScript is not available, nothing will happen >at all. Now it seems as if the script could run, if only it weren't >called from an event handler, which is of course nonsense. > >Example 2: > >Very cumbersome phrasing (what the hell are "delivery units"?), but >essentially correct. She basically says: > >>"If you extract the content of <link> tags by means of JavaScript, >>it won't work without JavaScript, and the task of doing this falls >>back to the user agent." > >True, of course, but hardly enlightening. > >The real question is: is the information in the link tags so >important that the page as a whole becomes inaccessible without it? > >BTW: My site uses this technique. The "up/down/previous/next/intro" >links at the bottom of a page are extracted from <link> elements in >the <head>. Go to any static content page to see them. > >------------------------------------------------------------------- >ppk, freelance web developer >http://www.quirksmode.org >------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Joe Clark | joeclark@joeclark.org Accessibility <http://joeclark.org/access/> Expect criticism if you top-post
Received on Monday, 20 June 2005 16:50:17 UTC