Re: Good Design using Relatively Simple HTML (Fidelity)

At 2000-10-03 16:15, Ben Morris wrote:
>I have come across a couple good sites that use relatively simple html to
>make an attractive design.  I realize that both of these sites have
>accessibility hurdles, but I am pointing out only the visual design of the
>page.
>
>www.fidelity.com - I think that this site looks great, with only about 3
>graphical images which are used where text cannot do the job.  The DHTML
>could be troublesome for some, and of course frames aren't ideal (but I am
>speaking only of the look and feel, not the total package).

Looks aren't enough for accessibility.

The Fidelity site seems frames heavy. Its content is all in script.
When opening the site, the tab order is obtuse: I show the labels as they 
appear left-to-right, and the tab order on the line below.
In MSIE5 tabbing starts from the Address URL. Then tabs take you on a
scatter trip:

The visual appearance is as shown on the next line, followed by the tab order:

FC*[login] Home | OpenanAcct | Help [box1] search [box2] getquote {hidden}
  2    4      3          5        6    7     10     8      9         1
* FC is stylized Fidelity logo image without alt="Fidelity.com"

Neither [box1] nor [box2] has any initial content, nor alt clues as to their
purpose. In IBM Home Page Reader, they are referred to as form1 and form2.
A return in either box does initiate their unidentified actions, if following
an appropriate typed entry (unidentified/unprompted) from which the result 
is a clue to what you get. Each occurs in its separate new window. The search
has the same header as the home page. The ticker quote is a separate popup
window with a different appearance.

Its tab order is perverse, its logic escapes me: included are
those visually unidentified (other than by inference of order) two text
entry boxes at the top. How does the blind user determine that to do a
search one has to do three more tabs to activate it. Conversely box2
is activated one tab later. Why not identify those forms first, and allow
their content to be activated after identification?

PS. I tried to send this to Fidelity. Their email system wouldn't let me,
even though I have an account there. I think it may have timed out.

... cut is Ben Morris' discussion of second site

Regards/Harvey Bingham

Received on Saturday, 11 August 2001 01:38:58 UTC