Re: Tabbed navigation designs and 1.4

Hi Andi and all,

One of my clients just asked me the same question.

Even if the page is usable in black and white, it can be useless for
the screen reader users. JIS defined this as an issue not only for
color blind users but also screen reader users and/or braille display
users.

By adding the heading for the submenu such as "Good Design submenu"
may be one of the solutions. But most of the screen reader users won't
be able to figure out easily in reality.

By using the title attribute such as "Active Menu" or "Selected Tab 2
of 6" would be also one of the solutions. For the Japanese users, HPR
won't read the value of the title attribute by default. However this
is not good solution for the Japanese users in reality as HPR is the
most popular among the blind users in Japan. Though this should be an
user agent issue.

FYI: Which Japanese screen readers are you using? (n=389)
HPR…165
PC-Talker…146
95Reader…43
JAWS…37
and so on.
 (This is the result from the people with visual impairment survey in 2007)

For the Japanese web content to be accessible in reality, we need to
use the additional solutions. I would recommend to use also the hidden
text for the link label "Good Design" as the additional technique.

<a href="hoge.html">Good Design <span class="offleft">(Selected)</span></a>

In this case, both HPR and PC-Talker which are very popular in Japan
can read the hidden text to let the users know which tab is selected.
Note that only using this technique is not sufficient as well as using
the heading for the submenu, the difference in shape and/or the title
attribute.

One of the challenges in Japan is that the authors have to compensate
for the poor function of the popular screen readers in order to make
web content accessible in reality.


- Makoto


2008/5/2 Andi Snow-Weaver <andisnow@us.ibm.com>:
>
>  Okay, the shape is the redundant visual cue. Duh.
>
>  The heading is hidden so it only works for AT users and helps with 1.3.1.
>  but not 1.4.1.
>
>  Andi
>
>
>
>
>              "Andrew
>              Kirkpatrick"
>              <akirkpat@adobe.c                                          To
>              om>                       "WCAG" <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
>              Sent by:                                                   cc
>              w3c-wai-gl-reques
>              t@w3.org                                              Subject
>                                        RE: Tabbed navigation designs and
>                                        1.4
>              04/30/2008 12:28
>              PM
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  The active tab is also identified by shape (assuming sight and CSS
>  support).
>
>  There is a heading for the subnavigation that is "Good design submenu"
>  that tells you what the selected tab is. That may be what Katie is
>  referring to.
>
>  AWK
>
>  > -----Original Message-----
>  > From: w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org] On
>  > Behalf Of Andi Snow-Weaver
>  > Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 12:20 PM
>  > To: WCAG
>  > Subject: Re: Tabbed navigation designs and 1.4
>  >
>  >
>  > Katie,
>  >
>  > How are they associated with text visually?
>  >
>  > Andi
>  > e
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >              Katie
>  >              Haritos-Shea
>  >              <ryladog@earthlin
>  > To
>  >              k.net>                    Andi Snow-
>  > Weaver/Austin/IBM@IBMUS,
>  >                                        WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
>  >              04/30/2008 10:31
>  > cc
>  >              AM
>  >
>  > Subject
>  >                                        Re: Tabbed navigation designs
>  > and
>  >              Please respond to         1.4
>  >                    Katie
>  >                Haritos-Shea
>  >              <ryladog@earthlin
>  >                   k.net>
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  > Andi,
>  >
>  > But color is not the only way of indentifying the tabs (it is just
>  used
>  > as
>  > a supplementary - which is helpful for all - but can be extra helpful
>  > to
>  > persons with cognitive disabilities.)
>  >
>  > The way I see it, the selected tab and its sub-menu are *first*
>  > associated
>  > with text and *then* associated through presentation (color).
>  >
>  > Katie
>  >
>  >
>  > -----Original Message-----
>  > >From: Andi Snow-Weaver <andisnow@us.ibm.com>
>  > >Sent: Apr 30, 2008 10:32 AM
>  > >To: WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
>  > >Subject: Tabbed navigation designs and 1.4
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >Take a look at this website:
>  > >
>  >
>  >http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/code/public_rnib
>  > 003460.hcsp
>  >
>  > >
>  > >These tabbed navigation designs are quite common on a lot of
>  websites.
>  > The
>  > >first row of links are "tabs" and the second row is a sub-menu of the
>  > >selected tab. The selected tab and its sub-menu are associated
>  through
>  > >presentation (color). ARIA will provide a way to programmatically
>  > expose
>  > >this relationship conveyed through presentation (1.3).
>  > >
>  > >But what about 1.4? Color is the only "visual" means of conveying
>  > which
>  > tab
>  > >is selected. But is this a problem for someone with color vision
>  > deficits?
>  > >The particular color is not relevant. It's the contrast between the
>  > light
>  > >color (yellow) and the dark color (red) that the user needs to be
>  able
>  > to
>  > >detect.
>  > >
>  > >Would this example fail 1.4? Should it?
>  > >
>  > >Andi
>  > >
>  > >
>  >
>  >
>  > * katie *
>  >
>  > Katie Haritos-Shea
>  > Section 508 Technical Policy Analyst
>  >
>  > 703-371-5545
>  >
>  > People may forget exactly what it was that you said or did,
>  > but they will never forget how you made them feel.......
>  >
>  >
>
>
>
>
>
>

Received on Thursday, 8 May 2008 08:35:49 UTC