Re: Nielsen's Latest Alertbox & a personal protest

The problem with the one word approach is that there two elements in this
controll that need tagging one is the box in which you type and the other is
the button.  If you don't separate them, you are apt to cause confusion from
a useability stand point and if you separate them and don't label them
properly, you cause useability issues as well.  In tab order, you first
should come to the search vield and then to the button.  Remember, we are
living in a *worle* here, not a part of the *world* and there are good
reasons why we have smart people guiding us as to how to develop.

If people don't know what the label element is, they need to be smartened
up.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jesper Tverskov" <jesper.tverskov@mail.tele.dk>
To: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 7:32 AM
Subject: Re: Nielsen's Latest Alertbox & a personal protest



Hi,

Jakob Nielsen is right but so are Tina and Carl.

Jakob uses the word label in its generic normal sense. Almost nobody has
ever heard about the label element not even most professional web designers.

The label element only exists in the universe of extreme accessibility.

Jakob simply says: if you use a search field it is enough that the button
says Search. You don't need a heading or a paragraph telling users that this
is a Search field.

For good accessibility we should use the label element. But this will add
text to the search field besides the Search already in the button.

Here we have a conflict between usability and accessibility. And in this
case usability should win.

We want a search field, so common on so many pages, to be as simple and
clean as possible. The button with the name Search is more than enough thank
you.

Some users need more. Their user agents should be able to give them what is
needed by using the word Search in the button.

This only applies to the search box so common on so many pages.

In most other cases, we should always use the label element together with
form elements.

"Accessibility becomes counterproductive and the greatest single obstacle to
a more accessible Internet, if it insists on practices nobody will listen
to".

I said that.

Cheers,

Jesper Tverskov
www.SmacktTheMouse.com


-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
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af tina@greytower.net
Sendt: 11. november 2003 11:58
Til: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Emne: Re: Nielsen's Latest Alertbox & a personal protest

Received on Tuesday, 11 November 2003 10:38:42 UTC