FW: Techniques 5.5.3 & 5.5.4

Denis Anson, MS, OTR
Assistant Professor
Computer Access Specialist
College Misericordia
301 Lake Street
Dallas, PA 18612

RESNA
The International Organization of Assistive Technology Professionals

Member since 1989



-----Original Message-----
From: Denis Anson [mailto:danson@miseri.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 1999 1:34 PM
To: W3c-Wai-Pf@W3. Org
Subject: Techniques 5.5.3 & 5.5.4


5.5.3 [Priority 1]
Allow the user to search for a form control based on its text content.
Because a form control does not have a standard label, it can be important
to allow a person with a disability to locate controls based on the text
that has been entered.  For example, a user might have entered information
about his/her name and address into a form, and on reviewing the
information, discover a typographical error.  The form control for the
user's street address may be labeled "Street," "Address," "Address1" or even
"Street Address."  The ability to search based on these labels would not
allow the user to locate such an entry with facility unless the s/he had
memorized all labels during the process of filling out the form.  However,
if the user could search for "Pine," as content in a form control, the focus
would be moved directly to the entry where the apartment number had been
mis-typed.
5.5.4 [Priority 1]
Allow the user to search for a form control based on its attribute values.
In a long form, the user should be able to search for form entries on a page
by the labels on those forms.  For example, a form may require entry of
information that is related to the user, but separated on the form.
Searching on form labels would allow the user to find out if the form
required information that might be pasted in, while that information is
readily available to the user.  Similarly, many forms distinguish between
required and optional information.  This distinction is typically made based
on some attribute of the form label.  Allowing the user to search for form
control attributes would allow the user to select required information
without the need of paging through all optional entries.

When the time comes, I will argue that both of these are at most Priority 2
items, since you can tab through the page to find this information, so it is
not impossible to use an agent that doesn't allow direct searching.
However, it can be significantly harder for a visually impaired person, so
it is a priority 2 issue.

Denis Anson, MS, OTR
Assistant Professor
Computer Access Specialist
College Misericordia
301 Lake Street
Dallas, PA 18612

RESNA
The International Organization of Assistive Technology Professionals

Member since 1989

Received on Wednesday, 7 April 1999 12:32:36 UTC