Re: Drop Down Menu Accessibility

>From: "Jean-Marie D'Amour" <jmdamour@videotron.ca>

>I tested the two examples of drop down menus with JAWS and Home Page
Reader.

>The one mentioned by Jonathan is very accessible with keyboard bu not
usable
>with JAWS in virtual PC cursor mode. This mode is the default mode and
most
>users don't know how to bypass it.

It wasn't the default mode on my Jaws 3.7, is this a change or something?
I agree though that it is not accessible in that mode, the main problem
is that Jaws 3.7, screws up all focus events in that mode, you lose the
ability to focus on elements within IE, which will destroy the
opportunity for almost all genuine popup menus.  I think the only
realistic approach to solving this jaws problem, is the same as with
http://jibbering.com/accessibility/tabcontrol2.html and add a link which
removes the popups (incidently this is not done with a second page or
anything like that, it's the same page without the script executing, or a
different script executing.)  Of course I think jaws needs to look at
this lack of "focusability" in its software.

>In HPR all the menu items are their but at the end of the page. It's not
very bad but
>a bit confusing.

The first 4 are links to the submenus though, do they not work? in any
case the position on the page is purely arbitrary, I made the decision to
place them at the end with in page links to them so that they didn't get
in the way of the content.

>Because the problem described with JAWS and because the large market
share of
>JAWS between screen readers, I think this example can't be qualified
like
>"accessible".

Hence the questionmark in the title!

>If somebody have other examples to share. I'd very like to have a
technique for
>accessible drop down menus to suggest to web developers that I have to
traine for
>web accessibility.

I'd've appreciated an email on this, I don't necessarily read all lists,
and feedback is useful, in correcting the flaws.

Jaws 3.7's lack of focusing is something I'm going to struggle with.  Is
it something just in the Jaws script?

Jim.

Received on Tuesday, 2 October 2001 05:49:30 UTC