Drawer style slide in / out content panels

Hi All,

We are working on a new design for one of our clients that copies the
drawer style panels which slide out, then back in which are used on the
bbc.co.uk homepage.

See example:http://screencast.com/t/ja0FTAYBqR

I have attempted to debug their minified JavaScript to figure out how
they are doing this, and it looks like they are making use of JQuery
fadeIn(); fadeOut(); methods, with the initial load of content pulled in
using AJAX, therefore not present at all in the original document.

I have my own thoughts on these, but to avoid bias I'll keep them to
myself.

I would like to ask:

(i)  Do you foresee any issues with loading content in via AJAX, when
the user clicks to expand the drawer widget?  Or should this be
available in the DOM from the start?  Remember it is only when the user has navigated to the more options on the panel, that the additional content is inserted into the DOM.
(ii)  fadeOut(); adds an in-line style of display:none, meaning
assistive technologies will ignore anything with this style set on
them.   This gives the animated effect of the drawer, but hides content
from the view of assistive technologies.  Good, or bad?

Thanks,

Darren.

Received on Monday, 18 March 2013 13:43:05 UTC