[Mailman-Developers] Accessible DOM manipulations

[Laura Carlson]

Ethan wrote:

>>> One example is keeping extraneous text hidden until it is
>>> selected; I imagine that someone using a screen reader/portable
>>> device would appreciate being able to read a "overview" page
>>> variant and then being able to expand as necessary.

An overview at the top of a page is good usability. This is referred to 
as inverted pyramid [1]. The inverted pyramid is a type of writing 
style where conclusions are presented first not last. It begins with a 
conclusion then moves to the key information followed by background 
information. Usability studies show that web users want instant 
gratification. That is why the inverted pyramid style is important.

Brad Knowles wrote:

>> I would much prefer to do this without JavaScript.  Because you can't
>> guarantee that you know the way that page would be rendered if you
>> send all sorts of "hidden" text that isn't shown until such time as
>> someone does something to make it appear, and you can't control what
>> kinds of mailicious cross-scripting attacks people may throw at you,
>> it's best to simply not send anything that the user cannot currently
>> see.

Bryan Carbonnell wrote:

> I have to agree with Brad on this.
>
> An option may be to give the site admin the ability to turn the JS
> on/off site wide with a mm_cfg.py variable.

Default set to off?

For the non JS option maybe provide a table of contents or overview at 
the top of the page with plain old anchors to jump down to detailed 
information.

Personally, I usually also dislike expandable/collapsible content is 
that relies on user action. But I haven't used Ethan's version yet. 
Hope it is keyboard friendly.

BTW, some degree of accessibility checking for the app can be done 
simply by using keyboard techniques like tabbing (using no mouse). 
Blind users often browse web sites by tabbing from heading to heading 
or link to link.

Keyboard techniques, such as tabbing through a page (tabbing through a 
page usually goes in the same order as a voice browser would read), is 
a good quick test. By tabbing you can check for any elements that 
cannot be accessed with the keyboard or that are in an illogical 
tabbing order.

The first exercise I have my Web Accessibility class do is disable 
their browser. The the idea is to give them an idea as to what it's 
like to have access to the web restricted. It's goal is to help them to 
understand what it feels like, and hopefully get them thinking about 
how these problems can be overcome.

These are their instructions:

<begin exercise>

No, don't unplug the phone cord or Ethernet connection! Instead we are 
going to selectively disable certain features in your web browser.

1. Go into your preferences in your browser and turn off any and all of 
the following, if you can. (You may have to poke around a bit in 
"preferences" or internet settings, and not all browsers will allow you 
to disable everything. But the general intent is to turn off as much as 
you can.)

- Images
- Sound
- Java
- JavaScript
- Style Sheets

2. Take your mouse/track ball/pointing device, unplug it, and throw it 
out the window. Okay, don't really do that, you might not be able to 
find it again. But don't use the mouse for the purpose of this exercise.

3. Look up the keyboard shortcuts for your browser in the help files or 
manual pages. Oops, I should have told you to do that before removing 
the mouse. Well, just remember that people with disabilities aren't 
magically born knowing how to run computers either, and if the help 
system is not accessible, they are in as much trouble as you are now!

4. With your "disabled" browsing system, look at five different web 
sites and attempt to use them. These should meet the following criteria:
- They are sites you've used before.
- They are sites where you can actually do something, and that 
something is of interest to you personally.
- They are different types of sites (not all news, not all e-commerce, 
not all personal pages, etc). Look at a variety of sites.
- Try to use these sites as you normally would, and record where you 
encountered any difficulties.

What Was Your Experience Like?

 1. What sites did you visit?
 2. Were you able to perform your normal tasks?
 3. What kind of obstacles, if any, did you encounter in accessing 
those sites?

</end exercise>

Best Regards,
Laura

[1] http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/usability#pyramid
___________________________________________
Laura L. Carlson
Information Technology Systems and Services
University of Minnesota Duluth
Duluth, MN U.S.A. 55812-3009
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/webdesign/