RE: Question re: WCAG2.0, Requirement 3.3.2

[Phil wrote]

Ø  Screen readers today can determine which is the correct label by either
guessing or by the author correctly marking up the label so that it is
programmatically determinable (recommended),



I have to disagree with this.  A screen reader guessing at a label is not
sufficient and often not correct – I see this fail almost every day.



Explicit labels, titles, ARIA or some other assistive technology supported *
definitive* way is required for WCAG 2 conformance to 1.3.1 or 4.1.2.
Implicit labeling or guessing is not sufficient in my review of WCAG 2.



Jonathan



*From:* w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org] *On
Behalf Of *Phill Jenkins
*Sent:* Thursday, June 16, 2011 9:51 AM
*To:* w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
*Subject:* Re: Question re: WCAG2.0, Requirement 3.3.2



I think we also need to be asking what is the responsibility of the browser
and AT, including the magnifiers, not just the screen readers.  and also how
the content is re-flowed for smaller mobile displays.  And
internationalization (right to left languages) needs to be considered too.

Screen readers today can determine which is the correct label by either
guessing or by the author correctly marking up the label so that it is
programmatically determinable (recommended), regardless of where the label
is visually.  So, a screen magnifier could also determine and speak (if it
has that feature) and correctly position the view pane to display the label
and the checkbox or radio button. Reflow and transformation and translation
tools can use this too.

I agree that best practices should usually (always?) but the label in a
consistent place. I'm just trying to also add to the discussion the
responsibility of the users agent/browser and any assistive technology and
not try (which I believe is impossible) to solve all the considerations with
just author markup and CSS.

Regards,
Phill Jenkins,
IBM Research - Human Ability & Accessibility Center
http://www.ibm.com/able
http://www.facebook.com/IBMAccessibility
http://twitter.com/IBMAccess
http://www.linkedin.com/in/philljenkins