[bcab] Web Accessibility Issue

All,

I've been asked to assess a website which isn't currently available
outside our corporate intranet, but which exhibits some problems for
which I wondered if anyone could offer some pointers.  The site uses
Javascript to construct a 'floating box', which overlays an initial
screen following a click on a link.  For me, using the JAWS virtual
buffer, the overlay is completely invisible, and the initial screen is
unchanged.  If I swap to the JAWS cursor, the overlay is partially
visible, but not usable.

I'm wondering if there's a standard way of getting around this problem,
or if its just the case that this type of approach isn't going to be
accessible to a screen reader.

The following quote describes the problem further:

*** Quote Begins ***
"... To summarise how the floating box works:

> When the user clicks on certain links in the page ... javascript is
> used to add an element to the page covering the entire screen. This
> element is a semi-transparent grey colour so has the effect of being
> and overlay that greys out the whole page (the underlying content is
> not completely obscured and still shows through). Then, we use
> javascript to add a new HTML "div" element to the page that contains a
> HTML "iframe". This element is added right at the end of the HTML
> source, but is positioned with CSS to be central on the screen. The
> iframe loads a separate web page from our server (e.g. a form to
> rename your tab, or the "add stuff" gadget catalogue for you to pick
> new gadgets).
> 
> I suspect that the problem is caused because we are using javascript
> to modify the source of the page dynamically to add new HTML elements
> rather than reloading the whole page. We need a way of modifying the
> page in a way that the screen reader can detect."
> 
*** Quote Ends ***

I have to admit that this is all a bit beyond my web-design skills.
Well rather a lot beyond them really, but if anyone can help, I'd be
grateful.

Regards,

Tim Pennick

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