RE: Tab panel example for SC 3.2.1

Thank you for the explanation Becky.

Not providing this example now does not mean that WCAG 2.0 will prevent any
new DHTML accessibility technologies in the future.

I am simply wary of providing examples of techniques that are not supported
by at least a majority of current assistive technologies and/or that cause
issues currently for one or more disability user groups. Current support is
a topic that gets raised constantly - even in today's teleconference.

Apart from lack of screen reader support (JAWS, Home Page Reader and Hal),
how is a sighted keyboard user to navigate to a link within the content of
a panel? With current technologies this would be with the tab key, but in
the provided example it would instead shift the focus out of the tab panel.
Currently, using an up/down arrow would scroll the page and not move
through links. I think this is too confusing for most people to include
now.

The ability of implementing such a technique may change with time (as you
have indicated), and at that time I would support its inclusion in WCAG
techniques. For now I do not think it should be included - or it should be
made very clear that it is a possible future technology implementation
example.

With regards,
Sofia

____________________________
Dr Sofia Celic
Senior Web Accessibility Consultant
Vision Australia - Accessible Information Solutions
454 Glenferrie Road
Kooyong, Victoria, 3144
Ph: +61 (0)3 9864 9284
Fax: +61 (0)3 9864 9370
E-mail: Sofia.Celic@visionaustralia.org.au
www.visionaustralia.org.au

Vision Australia was formed through the merger of
Royal Blind Society, the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind,
Vision Australia Foundation and the National Information and Library
Service.
ABN: 67 108 391 831. ACN: 108 391 831



|---------+------------------------------->
|         |           "Becky Gibson"      |
|         |           <Becky_Gibson@notesd|
|         |           ev.ibm.com>         |
|         |           Sent by:            |
|         |           w3c-wai-gl-request@w|
|         |           3.org               |
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|         |                               |
|         |           05/01/2006 11:13 PM |
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  |       To:       w3c-wai-gl@w3.org                                                                                            |
  |       cc:                                                                                                                    |
  |       Subject:  RE: Tab panel example for SC 3.2.1                                                                           |
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<sofia>
I think this use needs further investigation for screen reader users. The
left- and right- arrow keys are used to step through words by JAWS for
example.
</sofia>

This example [1] was created using the Dynamic Accessible Web Content
Roadmap [2].  It is fully supported by WindowEyes 5.5 and Firefox 1.5.
While this example may not work with all assistive technologies today, my
intent is to make certain that these new DHTML accessibility technologies
are not prevented by WCAG 2.0 when they become more widely supported.

[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2005OctDec/0699.html
[2] http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/roadmap/DHTMLRoadmap110505.html
Becky Gibson
Web Accessibility Architect

IBM Emerging Internet Technologies
5 Technology Park Drive
Westford, MA 01886
Voice: 978 399-6101; t/l 333-6101
Email: gibsonb@us.ibm.com

Received on Friday, 6 January 2006 03:23:32 UTC