Re: Keyboard accessible links without onclick or functioning href

Jon,

This is a good question to ask in general. I know for WCAG 2
'device-independence' was a goal where applicable and to the extent that
the technology allowed for, at the time.

We need to support so many more interaction models today and in the near
future. This is the challenge of standards, and we must do our best to
understand and account for them all.

Katie Haritos-Shea
703-371-5545

On Jul 9, 2017 3:27 PM, "Jonathan Avila" <jon.avila@levelaccess.com> wrote:

> Historically I have considered links that are keyboard accessible via
> onKeyUp or similar mechanism but lack an onclick or working href to be a
> failure of accessibility standards.  These links are often mouse accessible
> as well via a onMouseUp or similar events.  These links don’t work in
> browser mode with some screen readers unless the enter key is sent through
> as typically screen readers programmatically call the click event or issue
> some events that appear to be a click.  Because of this I would consider
> this a lack of accessibility support and potential device intendent event
> handling with other assistive technology as well.   Speech input users
> likely have similar issues and can activate the link via the keyboard or
> with a mouse grid but perhaps not with some other standard commands for
> activating links by voice such as “click link”.
>
>
>
> As you know – WCAG 2 didn’t address device depend accessibility – but
> rather only requires keyboard accessibility – not even mouse access.  This
> is an issue that has come up with some of the proposed success criteria for
> WCAG 2.1 – but I’m not sure they fully address it as it’s more of a
> programmatic activation without relying on a keyboard interface.
>
>
>
> Do others see this as a current violation of WCAG 2 – if not – is there a
> need to address this in some of the proposed pointer requirements for WCAG
> 2.1 or beyond?
>
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
>
>
> Jonathan
>
>
>