Re: Are forms accessible

Hi, Al
Yes, I pretty much agree with you.  The combination of browser and access
technology is variable in providing successful access to different types of
forms.  This variability is frustrating for web site developers who want
to make their web sites accessible.

Unfortunately, the current murkiness of whether forms are or not accessible
probably means that it will be harder for an individual to prove that a web
site using forms provided by entities covered by ADA Title II or Title
is not in compliance.

Scott

> to follow up on what Scott Luebking said:
> 
> > If a legal challenge was needed in the future, on what basis
> > could it be stated that web pages are (or are not) accessible?
> 
> Probably not, ipso facto, their inclusion or exclusion of forms.
> 
> > What I originally brought up is whether forms could be
> > considered accessible to blind people.
> 
> That question is too broad to have a yes/no answer.  As you said,
> 
> > Blind users have a wide range of success using buttons on forms
> > depending on the combination of screen reader and browser.
> 
> We want to move that distribution until it is clustered at the
> "high degree of success" end.  To do that maybe we should try to
> learn what it is that does and doesn't work.  It's not so simple
> as being a form or not being a form.  We probably need to take a
> variety of cases and examine them in more detail.  Then maybe we
> can learn how to discipline both the composition of the forms and
> the behavior of the user equipment so that usability is the norm,
> not pot luck.
> 
> I imagine that is what the groups working with Jon, Chuck and
> Gregg are setting out to do.
> 
> -- Al Gilman
>

Received on Tuesday, 4 November 1997 02:25:43 UTC