Re: An accessible way to format Date and Social Security Number form fields?

Formatting their content on the fly would be tough to make accessible,
as you'd need to indicate to a user that their input has been changed.
 If you do it that way, using ARIA would be the only option I can
think of to indicate what's changed, and you probably ought to allow
multiple common formats (think MM-DD-YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY for example,
allow both).

A more accessible way might be to use three separate text inputs, and
indicate how much is allowed in each one.  You can use a title
attribute on each with only one label, and screenreaders (which are
usually the highest bar to pass in this case) should handle it.  I
think.  :)

On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 11:11 AM, David Poehlman <poehlman1@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> perhaps a date picker would help.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Fox, Jean - BLS" <Fox.Jean@bls.gov>
> To: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 10:58 AM
> Subject: RE: An accessible way to format Date and Social Security Number
> form fields?
>
>
>
> The date may be tricky, because 12108 could be 1/21/08 or 12/1/08.   You
> could require leading zeros, but presumably users who don't want to
> enter "/" won't want to enter zeros, either.  Personally I'd rather
> enter slashes than leading zeros (or the leading "20"), but I have no
> idea what others would prefer.  Is it possible build a form to interpret
> multiple formats?
>
> Jean
>
> ----------------------------------
> Jean Fox
> Bureau of Labor Statistics
> 2 Mass Ave, NE, Room 1950
> Washington, DC  20212
> (202) 691-7370 (ph)
> (202) 691-7426 (fax)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org] On
> Behalf Of Accessys@smart.net
> Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 9:54 AM
> To: Jennifer Gauvreau
> Cc: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> Subject: Re: An accessible way to format Date and Social Security Number
> form fields?
>
>
>
> actually you also need to also consider the folks who automatically or
> otherwise actually do enter the - or / so that you don't end up with two
> of each.  12--3456789 or whatever
>
> Bob
>
>
>
> On Tue, 28 Oct 2008, Jennifer Gauvreau wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>>
>>
>> One of my project teams raised a question regarding the most
>> accessible way to apply formatting to a text entry form field.
>>
>>
>>
>> Background:
>>
>> Currently, when adding or updating data within a web application,
>> users are required to input identifiers, date, and amounts in a
>> certain format. For example, TIN must be in 12-3456789 format
>> (including the -), date must be in mm/dd/yyyy format (including the
>> /).  Based on preliminary testing, users mentioned that they are tired
>
>> of inputting the - or /. We want to make it more convenient to the
>> user by filling in the - or / for the user.
>>
>>
>>
>> The question is when to prefill the hyphen, slash, dollar sign, and/or
>
>> comma. The team proposed three options:
>>
>> 1. As user is entering their value
>>
>> 2. After the user enters their value and the focus is lost from the
>> field.
>>
>> 3. After saving the entry to the database.
>>
>>
>>
>> Is one implementation considered more compliant with Section 508 than
>> another? My personal opinion was that the most logical time to apply
>> the formatting would be after the user finishes inputting their value
>> and focus moves off the field option (2). However, I was interested in
>
>> hearing other people's perspectives, particularly if there are any
>> blind or motor-impaired users who would be willing to share their
>> personal experiences.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Jennifer Gauvreau
>>
>>
>>
>> Jennifer Gauvreau, CUA
>> Senior Consultant
>> Human Factors Practice
>> CGI Federal
>> T: 703-227-6167
>> F: 703-227-4205
>> 12601 Fair Lakes Circle, 6th Floor
>> Fairfax, VA 22033
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Received on Tuesday, 28 October 2008 18:32:14 UTC