[jaws-uk] Re: help explaining accessibility
- From: Léonie Watson <tink@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:36:10 -0000
This is true up to a point. Although screen reader users don't
particularly benefit from the label being wrapped around the form field,
other users do.
Wrapping the label around the form field creates a larger target area
for people to aim at. This is helpful to people with dexterity or motor
control difficulties.
When the label is wrapped around the form field, you can place the
cursor in the field by clicking on either the label or the field itself. If
the label isn't wrapped around the field, you must click on the field itself
to place the cursor there.
The other problem, as you note, is that just because a screen reader
*should recognise a label wrapped around a form field, doesn't mean that it
will. A good example is when the text of a label is placed after the field,
rather than before it.
Léonie.
_____
From: jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of E.J. Zufelt
Sent: 17 January 2010 18:56
To: jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: help explaining accessibility
Good afternoon,
A quick note regarding the example below. Input fields do not need to be
nested within the label tag in order for assistive technology to recognize
the relationship if the for and id attributes are used. Assistive
technology * should * recognize the relationship without the for and id
attributes provided that an input field is nested within the label field.
Regardless, it is always best practice to use unique ids on all fields, this
helps not only with accessibility, but with styling.
HTH,
Everett
Follow me on Twitter
http://twitter.com/ezufelt
View my LinkedIn Profile
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ezufelt
On 17-Jan-10, at 1:48 PM, Léonie Watson wrote:
The reason some screen readers will have trouble picking up the form
labels, is that they haven't been coded properly. When you build a web form,
the trick is to associate the label with the relevant form field. A screen
reader looks for this association, and announces the relevant text when the
form field is landed on.
At the moment, the code for a typical form field on this page looks
something like this:
First Name
<input type="text" name="FieldData0" value="" maxlength="100" size="30">
To create the association between the label and the form field, two
things need to happen. The first is that the label tag must be used, like
this:
<label>First Name
<input type="text" name="FieldData0" value="" maxlength="100" size="30">
</label>
The second is that two attributes have to be applied. One to the
label tag, and one to the input tag. Both attributes must share the same
value, and it's this that creates the association between the two elements,
like this:
<label for="first_name">First Name
<input id="first_name" type="text" name="FieldData0" value=""
maxlength="100" size="30">
</label>
It looks as though the website may have been created using a tool
such as Dreamweaver. There's quite a lot of unnescessary code in there,
particularly the use of tables to control the layout of each page.
To keep things sensible, I've simplified the code examples above. A
web developer shouldn't have any trouble working from there though. A useful
guide to coding accessible web forms can also be found here:
http://www.accessify.com/features/tutorials/accessible-forms/
Léonie
-----Original Message-----
From: jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of David W Wood
Sent: 17 January 2010 17:18
To: jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jaws-uk] help explaining accessibility
All:
I am trying to tell the author of this site:
http://www.cwops.org/newmembersignup.php
the labelling is not very good, but I am not experienced enough to explain
it to him.
In particular, the links.
Also JFW isn't picking up the labelling of the edit fields automatically.
Is this also a coding issue.
Comments welcomed.
My contact there is biddable to suggestions.
TIA
David
--
I am using the free version of SPAMfighter.
We are a community of 6 million users fighting spam.
SPAMfighter has removed 927 of my spam emails to date.
Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len
The Professional version does not have this message
** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:-
** [mailto:jaws-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe]
** If this link doesn't work then send a message to:
** jaws-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
** and in the Subject line type
** unsubscribe
** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the
** immediately-following link:-
** [mailto:jaws-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq]
** or send a message, to
** jaws-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq
** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:-
** [mailto:jaws-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe]
** If this link doesn't work then send a message to:
** jaws-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
** and in the Subject line type
** unsubscribe
** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the
** immediately-following link:-
** [mailto:jaws-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq]
** or send a message, to
** jaws-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq
Other related posts:
