RE: WCAG compliance question

> The "other things" mentioned in the original post may also well be dialog boxes, alerts, error messages etc which are intentionally styled with display:none to not be visible / absent from the DOM that's exposed to AT, and will only be made visible when appropriate. So again, it's not a clear-cut situation - without seeing the actual specific case, it's not possible to make generalised statements about things being incorrect.

Agreed, take the case of responsive design.  CSS is used to display one navigation structure on the desktop and another on mobile.  When CSS is disabled you may have duplicate content but this doesn't mean the page fails.  Yes, users need the ability to change the appearance of text but turning off a technology completely that is relied upon and accessible according to the success criteria is not required and is counter productive.  There are things that do need to be sorted out such as use of the CSS content property, CSS alt, etc. But content that is hidden with CSS should be assumed hidden for a  reason and ideally CSS should not be used to create screen reader only content.  
 
Jonathan


-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick H. Lauke [mailto:redux@splintered.co.uk] 
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2016 8:07 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Re: WCAG compliance question

On 26/02/2016 12:25, Richard (Userite) wrote:
> Yes the site needs to be accessible with CSS enabled AND with it disabled.

I wouldn't say it's as clear cut as that, just as similar statements like "a site must work even when JavaScript is disabled" aren't exactly true either. Neither of these statements can be found anywhere in the letter (nor the spirit, I'd argue) of WCAG 2.0.

> Developers can use CSS to "hide" messages that are aimed at people who 
> use screen readers. For example most pages have a top navigation bar 
> which requires a heading so that blind users can find it easily. 
> However to stop the heading actually showing up on the page for 
> sighted users CSS has been used such as, for example,  either 
> {display:none;} or {position:left, -1999px;}
>
> It is not that visual users are getting less than blind users, just 
> that additional help is provided for screen readers.
>
> The fact that your Jaws does not pick up this hidden text suggests 
> that the CSS has been written incorrectly.

The "other things" mentioned in the original post may also well be dialog boxes, alerts, error messages etc which are intentionally styled with display:none to not be visible / absent from the DOM that's exposed to AT, and will only be made visible when appropriate. So again, it's not a clear-cut situation - without seeing the actual specific case, it's not possible to make generalised statements about things being incorrect.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

www.splintered.co.uk | https://github.com/patrickhlauke http://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | http://redux.deviantart.com

twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke

Received on Monday, 29 February 2016 16:47:25 UTC