Accessiblity and DHTML Menus
The general consensus amongst users unfamiliar with what you can and can't do with web standards and accessibility is that javascript and accessibility don't mix? This is a total fallacy.
After much research the conclusion is that DHTML is fine. As long as the code is structured using lists and you give alternatives for users, such as "onkeypress" instead of "onclick" events ? basically drop-down-menus are perfectly feasible.
For example the top level DDM would have an "onclick" event to go to the top-level homepage. Then, for accessibility compatibility, we would add an "onkeypress" (and an access key) to the link so that users, unable to use a mouse, could also go directly to the page.
This is fine as the user will then see the full navigation on the subsequent page, or, for users using screen readers or non-visual browsers where the navigation would effectively be hidden, the navigation elements would be coded using pure web standards so that all of the navigation is "visible" to those users.
After much research the conclusion is that DHTML is fine. As long as the code is structured using lists and you give alternatives for users, such as "onkeypress" instead of "onclick" events ? basically drop-down-menus are perfectly feasible.
For example the top level DDM would have an "onclick" event to go to the top-level homepage. Then, for accessibility compatibility, we would add an "onkeypress" (and an access key) to the link so that users, unable to use a mouse, could also go directly to the page.
This is fine as the user will then see the full navigation on the subsequent page, or, for users using screen readers or non-visual browsers where the navigation would effectively be hidden, the navigation elements would be coded using pure web standards so that all of the navigation is "visible" to those users.
Labels: accessiblity, css, dhtml, menu
posted by Jon at
5:12 PM
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