WCAG-ISSUE-28 (nested-form-in-radio): Nested form fields in radio groups [HTML & ARIA Techniques TF]

WCAG-ISSUE-28 (nested-form-in-radio): Nested form fields in radio groups [HTML & ARIA Techniques TF]

http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/track/issues/28

Raised by: David MacDonald
On product: HTML & ARIA Techniques TF

I had an action item to articulate a discussion about 5.1 next regarding nesting form fields in radio groups. 
Recently during WCAG evaluations I've been finding quite a few radio groups with nested form fields.

I have a couple of mock up examples here http://davidmacd.com/test/form-field-nested-in-radio-list.html 

 It is very difficult for screen readers users to navigate this. Let's assume developers don't want to place the nested elememt below the radio group either dynamically via show/hide (when the pertinent radio button is selected) or statically (always visible). Placing an aria-label on the drop down doesn't seem to help either.

I'd argue it is a very bad UI design to do this and that it should be redesigned with the nested fields below the radio group. Unfortunately, many devs seem to like it. Currently, I would fail it in WCAG. Do we need an explicit failure technique in WCAG or in the HTML 5.1 spec. Is there something we can do using existing accessibility structures to fix it (create a positive technique), while keeping the layout.

Received on Thursday, 26 June 2014 18:24:19 UTC