RE: DHTML Style Guide - proposed behavior for Rich Text Editor

Becky,

Isn't it important for speech users to know about disabled controls in a Toolbar.  If disabled controls are taken out of the keyboard navigation, how will screen reader user know they are there?

Jon


---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:43:09 -0500
>From: "Becky Gibson" <Becky_Gibson@notesdev.ibm.com>  
>Subject: RE: DHTML Style Guide - proposed behavior for Rich Text Editor  
>To: wai-xtech@w3.org
>
>
>wai-xtech-request@w3.org wrote on 01/09/2008 03:26:09 PM:
>
>> 
>> Hi Becky,
>> Also the toolbar could use the only tab stop and then left and right 
>arrows
>> could be used to navigate toolbar controls.
>> Victor
>> 
>Yes, I thought we had discussed the toolbar behavior so I didn't provide 
>the details here.  However, I don't see anything in the Style Guide 
>document so we should add toolbar to the list.   I know the group 
>discussed arrow key navigation through the toolbar and whether or not 
>disabled toolbar items should receive focus.  Somehow that didn't get 
>written up. 
>
>Here is a quick summary of what I remember from the discussion:
>The first enabled toolbar button is in the tab order of the page. In left 
>to right languages this button will be the first enabled toolbar button 
>starting from the left.
>With focus on a toolbar button left and right arrow keys navigate to the 
>enabled buttons in the toolbar. 
>Disabled toolbar buttons are not in the navigation and do not receive 
>focus.  This mimics the behavior of toolbars on the Mac.  I don't know of 
>any keyboard navigable toolbars in Windows applications. 
>There still needs to be discussion of the behavior of controls such as 
>comboboxes, dropdown menus and combobuttons included in toolbars. For 
>example, combobuttons currently have two tab stops - one for the default 
>action of the button and one for the dropdown portion of the button, how 
>should this be handled when the combobutton is in a toolbar? 
>
>Becky Gibson
>Web Accessibility Architect
>                                                       
>IBM Emerging Internet Technologies
>5 Technology Park Drive
>Westford, MA 01886
>Voice: 978 399-6101; t/l 333-6101
>Email: gibsonb@us.ibm.com
>blog: WebA11y
>
>
>wai-xtech-request@w3.org wrote on 01/09/2008 03:26:09 PM:
>
>> 
>> Hi Becky,
>> Also the toolbar could use the only tab stop and then left and right 
>arrows
>> could be used to navigate toolbar controls.
>> Victor
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: wai-xtech-request@w3.org [mailto:wai-xtech-request@w3.org] On 
>Behalf
>> Of Becky Gibson
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 12:18 PM
>> To: wai-xtech@w3.org
>> Subject: DHTML Style Guide - proposed behavior for Rich Text Editor
>> 
>> 
>> My action item from the January 8, 2008 DHTML Style Guide meeting was to
>> write up the behaviors for a Rich Text Editor Widget.
>> 
>> 
>> The edit control is provided by the browser. The edit control provides 
>the 
>> keyboard support for navigating, adding, removing and selecting text so 
>> that behavior is not defined by the DHTML Style Guide.  The browser 
>should 
>> also provide a keyboard mechanism for navigating into and out of the 
>edit 
>> control.    Within Internet Explorer the edit control is put into the 
>tab 
>> order of the page and can be navigated into, out of, and through using 
>the 
>> tab and shift-tab keys like any standard form control.   Firefox also 
>puts 
>> the edit control into the tab order.  However, Firefox has actually 
>> implemented tab as an action within the edit control so currently there 
>is 
>> no keyboard way to navigate out of the editor component once focus has 
>> been placed inside of it. 
>> 
>> A rich text editor widget needs to provide a user interface for 
>> interacting with the browser provided edit control.  Interaction between 
>
>> the user interface and editor is defined here assuming that a toolbar is 
>
>> used. 
>> If not provided by the browser, the rich text editor widget must provide 
>a 
>> keyboard mechanism to move into and out of the edit control.  Tab and 
>> shift-tab are the recommended keystrokes. This additional implementation 
>
>> is necessary for Firefox until Firefox provides an alternative keyboard 
>> mechanism to navigate out of the edit control.
>> The toolbar or other user interface component associated with the editor 
>
>> is placed in the tab order immediately before the editor.
>> To set an attribute on text within the edit control the user sets focus 
>> into the edit control, moves the insertion point, selects text and 
>presses 
>> shift-tab to move focus from the editor back to the toolbar.  The user 
>> navigates through the toolbar (see toolbar behavior) to a desired 
>> attribute and invokes that attribute. 
>> When an attribute is invoked, that attribute is applied to the selected 
>> text in the editor and focus moves back into the editor at the previous 
>> insertion point with the selection intact. 
>> 
>> Options: 
>> Rather than using shift-tab to move focus from within the editor to the 
>> toolbar, another key combination could be used (alt-up arrow, 
>> ctrl-shift-letter, etc.).  This would eliminate the need to put the user 
>
>> interface control, in this example a toolbar, into the tab order 
>> immediately before the editor component.  However, there are drawbacks 
>to 
>> using a different keystroke to navigate to the user interface: 1) it is 
>> not as "discoverable" as relying on the standard tab/shift-tab behavior; 
>
>> 2) it is difficult to find key combinations which are not already 
>captured 
>> by the browser or assistive technology. 
>> Focus could stay within the toolbar after the user invokes an attribute. 
>
>> The user would then have to press an additional key to move focus back 
>> into the editor.  This would allow multiple attributes to be set on the 
>> current selection without having to return back to the user interface 
>but 
>> it would add an extra key sequence after setting just a single 
>attribute. 
>>  Requiring a keystroke to move focus back into the editor would also 
>> require modifying the toolbar behavior to intercept this keystroke and 
>to 
>> know how to set focus back to the component (the editor) that the 
>toolbar 
>> is associated with. 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Becky Gibson
>> Web Accessibility Architect
>> 
>> IBM Emerging Internet Technologies
>> 5 Technology Park Drive
>> Westford, MA 01886
>> Voice: 978 399-6101; t/l 333-6101
>> Email: gibsonb@us.ibm.com
>> blog: WebA11y
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>
>
>
Jon Gunderson, Ph.D.
Coordinator Information Technology Accessibility
Disability Resources and Educational Services

Rehabilitation Education Center
Room 86
1207 S. Oak Street
Champaign, Illinois 61821

Voice: (217) 244-5870

WWW: http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/
WWW: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jongund/www/

Received on Wednesday, 16 January 2008 16:11:51 UTC