RE: Suggestions for Search Form

Hey Matthew.

Here's my $0.02 worth...

While all of the categories are marked as <h2>s (a quick way for JAWs users
to navigate) the fact that they are split over two pages makes the
categories on the second page "unavailable" (as it were) using the "List
Headers" method. (For example, if I were looking for Social Services - which
is on the second page).  How about a global navigation at the top of each
page which uses named anchors to take the person to the appropriate category
(on either page)?

While I understand the placement of the submit button from both a usability
and aesthetic perspective, it really does play havoc to screen readers,
especially to the uninitiated, as generally it is understood that that is
the "last thing" that you would do... submit the form.  The best
recommendation is still to make the submit button the last form entry in any
form, and I would suggest that this holds true here as well.

The tabbing index is all "screwy" when I attempt to tab through the page (IE
6.0.28 on Win 2K)... it is not "working" at all properly. (Ditto in Netscape
7 and Opera 7)  The tabbing seems to leave out the first Boolean selector
(Find in "Any Town") until after navigation of the entire page.

<label> and id associations seem all messed up too:  Under "Banking and
Postal Services" if I click on the text (in I.E.) "Find in" it actually puts
the focus on the "Any Town" input under "Employment and Careers
Information"... (huh??)  Remember that each instance of id must be unique on
a page. (Running the page through a validator would have caught this:
http://www.htmlhelp.com/cgi-bin/validate.cgi?url=http://www.community-connec
t.net/cc/search?a=cs&warnings=yes&input=yes , as well as the missing </p>
near the bottom of the page...)

Overall though, it works and would be I believe both accessible and
acceptable to most if not all.

JF



> -----Original Message-----
> From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org]On
> Behalf Of Matthew Smith
> Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 9:39 PM
> To: WAI Interest Group
> Subject: Suggestions for Search Form
>
>
>
> Hi All
>
> I am developing a community directory which may be searched using either
> keywords or a list of categories.
>
> The "advanced category search" is giving me a few problems; whilst the
> basic search by category uses a simple <select></select> with words and
> phrases, the advanced version provides a summary of what may be found in
> the category.  To put this in a <select></select> would make some rows
> impossibly wide.  My solution was to produce a form for each category;
> the result looks like this:
>
> http://www.community-connect.net/cc/search?a=cs
>
> Although it navigates OK in Lynx, I am not happy with it.
>
> I invite comments on this and ask:
>
> 1) Is it OK to have the submit control of a form somewhere before the
> end?  Because of the advanced options which may not be used, I have
> placed it after the section title?
>
> 2) Is there too much information on the page using this type of
> presentation?
>
> Feedback would be appreciated.
>
> Cheers
>
> M
>
> --
> Matthew Smith
> IT Consultant - KBC, South Australia
> KBC Web Site    http://www.kbc.net.au
> PGP Public Key  http://gpg.mss.cx
>
>
>
>

Received on Thursday, 8 May 2003 07:47:57 UTC