In the last two months I’ve come across more examples of the LONGDESC attribute in use, than I’ve seen in as many previous years. Due to this apparent rise in its popularity, this seems like a good time to look at when the LONGDESC can be useful, and when it’s just a waste of code.
One of the most common accessibility problems we find when conducting the Better Connected survey is the lack of marked up headers in data tables. So let’s look at why these are important, and how to make sure that tables can be clearly understood.
We all know that when an abbreviation or initialisation is used, that it should be expanded at it’s first use. We know too, that there are two ways this can be achieved:
Unfortunately web authors often use both together. This is awful for screen reader users, if they have expansions enabled, they will get both the full plain text and the fully expanded acronym. Continue Reading »
Time to vent some steam about the TITLE attribute. This, almost more than any other item in the web author’s toolbox, seems to be misunderstood and overused.
The TITLE is an essential attribute for some elements, such as ACRONYM or ABBR, and is a required attribute for FRAME elements where it provides contextual information that wouldn’t otherwise be obvious to screen reader users.
Unfortunately though, it can be applied to almost any HTML element. Most often we see it on links and images, where it can confuse or even mask essential information. It can create issues on other elements, but for this article we’ll concentrate on the damage it can do to clear link text and images with good ALT attributes. Often creating classic examples of too much accessibility.
Continue Reading »
A classic example of trying too hard and making accessibility bloopers, can be found when web authors provide too many JavaScript event handlers in an effort to ensure device independence. This is the fifth in our series of articles on “too much accessibility“.
Ensuring that users can make JavaScript events work, regardless of the way that they access your web page is vital. Users should be able to activate JavaScript events whether they use a mouse, keyboard, pointing / switch device or any other means of navigation.
However, if two or more event handlers, designed to perform the same task are used, the effect can be the opposite of the one you intended. Continue Reading »
If ever there were a good candidate for a “too much accessibility” award, the FIELDSET LEGEND element would surely take some beating.
Yes yes, I know, if you don’t have a LEGEND on your FIELDSET, some automated accessibility checkers will throw it up as an error. Well, my answer to that is, they don’t have to listen to them!
By this, I don’t mean that LEGEND should never be used, but like everything else in the accessibility toolbox, it’s not what you use, but how you use it. Continue Reading »
A prime suspect in the crime of allowing “too much accessibility” has to be the TABINDEX attribute.
How many web authors realise that if you give the TABINDEX attribute to just a few form fields or links on a web page, you could ruin the logical tab order for the entire page? I’m afraid the answer is: far too few.
To be frank, I’ve rarely seen the TABINDEX attribute applied without it creating more problems than it solves.
One of the worst culprits for creating what I call “too much accessibility” is the ACCESSKEY attribute. Of course, it has its place in the accessible web author’s toolkit, but when implemented by someone who doesn’t know how other keyboard shortcuts work, it can be a positive menace.
Before being accused of blasphemy, let me explain. It’s my view that some HTML attributes, or techniques designed to improve accessibility, are often over-used or over-helpfully chosen, resulting in content that is less, rather than more, accessible.
Perhaps this over-egging of the pudding stems from web authors being unaware of how disabled users interact with their web sites. Or perhaps they don’t fully understand what the techniques achieve and how they function. Either way, it’s an awful waste to have such good intentions so badly misdirected.
