RE: Tabindex on instructions

Pardon me for jumping in but I looked at the Change of Address Form. I do see it uses tabindex=0 but even on the form title "Please enter your info" which is h1 and not an instruction. It does not have to be tab-navigable.
(For S508 para (n) only requires instructions are available ... do not have to be ttabbable).
Every piece of text in that form is marked up with h<n> tag  although they are not section headings. In fact instructions are marked up as off-screen labels for form controls and it reads a two line piece of text for a form label! Visible labels marked up as h3 are not marked up as labels .
So a screen reader user is exposed to the same piece of text 2 or 3 times which is a big obstacle for efficient access and task performance.

This page should not be cited as an example for anything except for the failure I have been encouraging the WCAG to consider for very long:
incorrect application of accessibility techniques poses an  accessibility barrier and should be strongly discouraged.  

Thanks,
Sailesh Panchang


--- On Sat, 9/3/11, Bailey, Bruce <Bailey@Access-Board.gov> wrote:


From: Bailey, Bruce <Bailey@Access-Board.gov>
Subject: RE: Tabindex on instructions
To: "Loretta Guarino Reid" <lorettaguarino@google.com>, "adam solomon" <adam.solomon2@gmail.com>, "David MacDonald" <david100@sympatico.ca>
Cc: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Date: Saturday, September 3, 2011, 7:42 AM



SSA has been using @tabindex=0 to make instructional text on forms focusable for a while.

Their guidance is available from here:
http://www.ssa.gov/oag/acq/oagacq_508.htm

SSA's Guide to Applying Section 508 Standards:
http://www.ssa.gov/oag/info/SSA's%20Guide%20to%20Applying%20Section%20508%20Standards.pdf

The relevant bit is on page 49 in relation to testing against 1194.22(n).

The simplest example I could find of @tabindex is their change of address form:
https://secure.ssa.gov/apps6z/ICOA/main.html

You have to select the OK button to get the actual form.  @tabindex=0 is set on a DIV and a couple SPANs.


-----Original Message-----
From: Loretta Guarino Reid [mailto:lorettaguarino@google.com]
Sent: Thu 9/1/2011 5:19 PM
To: Bailey, Bruce
Cc: adam solomon; David MacDonald
Subject: Tabindex on instructions

This is the reminder email to send  a pointer to your pages with focusable
instructions.

Received on Saturday, 3 September 2011 23:54:58 UTC