RE: Tab panel example for SC 3.2.1

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

The reason for including this example is to make certain the people 
understand that this type of behavior is not prevented by WCAG 2.0.  I 
have had comments from people who are not part of the working group that 
believe the tab panel implementation is excluded by this success 
criterion.  That is why I proposed modifying the text of the success 
criterion.  There was a survey question on this (issue 1792 at the 
bottom)[1] and it was discussed at the December 22, 2005 working group 
meeting. At that meeting the group felt that the success criterion did not 
exclude this behavior and I was asked to add this example to the How to 
Meet document.  I feel it is import to add the example for clarification. 
I understand your concern that it is not widely supported, but it is an 
example of what is possible, not a technique. For that reason I would like 
to see it included - I would prefer not to re-open the discussion of the 
success criterion wording. 

Actually, the tab key would first navigate to any controls within the 
panel before leaving the panel and navigating out of the panel.  The tab 
key behavior remains the same for standard HTML form elements and the 
arrow key is used to navigate the panels. This is the paradigm of the 
Windows tab panel.  I have updated the example to better reflect that to 
see if that helps. Or, can you think of another example that indicates 
that a user initiated change is not prevented by this success criterion?

A tab panel user interface is implemented within a delivery unit.  The tab 
panel consists of 5 tabs, each with a different title and content. For 
example, US News, World News,  Weather, Entertainment, and Humor.   As the 

user navigates from tab to tab using the arrow keys, the contents of the 
delivery unit are updated to reflect the selected tab.  For example, when 
the user navigates to the Humor tab, A short account of an interesting or 
humorous incident is made visible in the tab panel, replacing the previous 
contents of the panel.  This is the expected behavior of a tab panel user 
interface.  The tab key can be used to navigate within the elements of the 
tab panel and then to other elements on the page below the current panel. 

thanks,
-becky

[1] http://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35422/2005-12-15-3-2/results

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 13:02:28 UTC