Opinions please

Please excuse the cross posting to those who receive this twice.

I have a client who wishes to use JavaScript in a form for form verification
prior to submit - it is important that all fields be filled out.  I have
advised that all "Mission Critical" scripting MUST be server-side to ensure
universal accessibility.  Their concern however is on server load - the form
is part of a huge enterprise with potentially hundreds of thousands of
"hits" daily.  The question was then posed - could they use JavaScript as
the primary means of form verification, with a server side redundant back-up
for user agents which do not support client side scripting?

My first instinct is to say probably yes, citing the W3C WCAG Guideline
11.4: "If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page, provide
a link to an alternative page that uses W3C technologies, is accessible, has
equivalent information (or functionality), and is updated as often as the
inaccessible (original) page." - the redundant server-side backup delivers
the equivelant functionality.

Does anybody see any holes here?  Not being a server guy, I'm not sure how
they could actually accomplish this (how would the server-side checker know
when _not_ to check without first running?), but assuming they could
accomplish this, would it pass muster in terms of accessibility?

Please and Thanks

JF

Received on Friday, 12 July 2002 12:14:44 UTC