RE: Javascript question

John, you bring up good questions. I'm going to respond to each of your
questions individually:

But first, it is possible for you to create the same effect of the pop
up submenus without requiring the user to use javascript.  One method is
to use CSS instead of javascript like the suckerfish menus done in A
List Apart: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/dropdowns. Others use a
javascript dropdown system but set it up so users who do not have
javascript enabled browsers can still easily navigate through the site.
One way I've done this is by making the submenu appear when the user
rolls over a menu item, but if the user clicks on the menu item, it
takes them to a page that has all the links that the pop-up sub-menu
had.   The third way is to use CSS dropdown menus and enhance them with
JavaScript for optimal browser compatibility.


>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org] On
>  Behalf Of John Carpenter

 
>  "8.1 Make programmatic elements such as scripts and applets directly
>  accessible or compatible with assistive technologies [Priority 1 if
>  functionality is important and not presented elsewhere, otherwise
>  Priority 2.]"
>  
>  The popup menu is not really compatible with, say, a screen-reader as
>  such.  However, its existence does not seem to do any harm to these
>  users (it's simply invisible to them).  Would the fact that the menu
is
>  invisible to users with assistive technologies fail us on this
>  checkpoint?

I don't think so.  It is possible to meet this checkpoint if you use CSS
based pop-up menus.

>  "9.3 For scripts, specify logical event handlers rather than
>  device-dependent event handlers."
>  
>  I'm still unsure as to the difference between 8.1 and 9.3, but as far
as
>  I can tell HTML does not have adequate event handlers for doing this.
>  Would making the menu accessible via a keyboard be enough compliance
>  with this checkpoint?

I would think so
 
>  "3.4 Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language
>  attribute values and style sheet property values."
>  
>  Are pixels classified as relative units?  (For menu width, not font
>  size)

Depending on who you talk to you will get a different response.
Technically, I would argue, Yes.  Pixel defined font-size are relative
to the resolution of the monitor. But I think that the meaning behind
the statement would say No.   I would recommend using ems instead.
Here is a link to an article on em font sizing:
http://www.clagnut.com/blog/348/ 


Hope this helps,

Juan C. Ulloa
julloa@bcc.ctc.edu

Received on Thursday, 6 January 2005 16:10:45 UTC