RE: Deploying (accessible) XForms today?

Xerox is presently using Chiba in our product DocuShare CPX 5.0 [1].  We
use the Chiba Web AJAX implementation of XForms [2] for providing
dynamic pages, and the Chiba HTML 4.01 mode for a fully-accessible
version of the same pages.  We use XForms for edit and add data screens
for certain features, where we have a need to bind to XML data, or where
we have a need for dynamic forms.

Some of our XForms pages are hand authored, and others are generated via
templates. Using Chiba as a server side technology has worked well for
us to provide the access to the dynamic forms and to XML bindings with a
minimum of problems for accessibility, and without having to write any
additional JavaScript for our product.

Of course, we'd like it to be faster and have fewer bad interactions
with things like the back button, but our hope is that Chiba and other
XForms products will improve over time.

Finally we are hoping that the WAI Dynamic Pages Roadmap [3] makes good
on its promise to describe XForms as an accessibility mechanism itself.
Then perhaps screen reader vendors such as IBM will take notice and
provide the tools necessary, and Bobby and other validation agents will
certify XForms as accessible.  Success in this area is a legal
pre-requesite for adoption into many products, and it is critically
important XForms gets these implementations made available.

We also use XForms in other areas in Xerox, and I will be sure to point
them out when I can.

[1] http://docushare.xerox.com/
[2] http://chibacon.de
[3] http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/roadmap/ 

Leigh.

-----Original Message-----
From: www-forms-request@w3.org [mailto:www-forms-request@w3.org] On
Behalf Of Allan Beaufour
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 4:25 AM
To: www-forms@w3.org
Subject: Deploying (accessible) XForms today?


Since not everybody is using a browser with XForms capabilities, if
you want to deploy XForms today, server-side transformations might be
needed. But how about accessibility? I fear that you loose that then?

/me steps aside and hopes for some good answers from the server-side
crowd :)

--
... Allan

Received on Friday, 5 May 2006 18:07:12 UTC