Spawned browsers

The current UA draft doesn’t seem to cover spawned browser windows –
entirely new copies of the browser that can currently be generated
without the user’s awareness. Spawned windows present a number of
accessibility issues. For instance, I can’t even describe the confusion
I recently witnessed when a server error message got routed to an
‘invisible’ browser window that didn’t have the focus.

The potential for spawned browsers housing nasty applets that a blind
user has no way to know about is another problematic issue.

I would like to suggest the following:

1) The user should have the option of being notified when a new copy of
the browser is opened, and that notification should be available to
third party applications such as screen readers.
2) The user should have the option of overriding any author designated
properties for spawned browsers, such as window size, whether or not the
standard toolbar is available, whether or not scripts are enabled, etc.
3) Every open copy of a browser should have a separate, accessible
identifier. For example, Netscape and IE currently put the page name and
their name on the browser title-bar (e.g. “YourCo Home – Netscape”).
When multiple copies of the browser are open, a more informative title
would be something like “YourCo Home – Netscape Copy 3” or “YourCo Home
– MS Internet Explorer: 2”.

 -- Paul

Received on Monday, 24 August 1998 15:37:30 UTC