"dda" in Weblog

I’ve just spotted the DRC’s The Web Access and Inclusion for Disabled People article, which makes for some pretty interesting reading. I’ve only had time to scan it but a couple of things jumped out at me…

81% of websites “fail to satisfy the most basic Web Accessibility Initiative”. We all guessed it but there it is in black and white.

“Automatic testing software are useful diagnostic tools but are only part of what is needed to fulfil the DDA duty.” People need to stop ticking boxes and start THINKING about accessibility.

And that’s as far as I’ve got so far…

It’s the example source code bit that makes this Accessible and usable forms article stand out for me. How many times have I re-written search form html? Many many many times. Yes, I recycle some of it but all my snippets are on my laptop at home and so aren’t necessarily available when I’m on site… Unless I’ve been particularly organised and updated my USB drive.

Anyway, back to the point. I disagree with a couple of the recommendations in the article, mainly that “text type fields should have a default value.” Yes, default values are specifically mentioned by WCAG Checkpoint 10.4 but the ever opinionated (but with good reason) Jukka Korpela discussed this point on WebAIM a few weeks back and concluded that the “until user agents” part of 10.4 had been satisfied and giving form elements a default value wasn’t only unnecessary but actually a hinderance. The post I’m referring to doesn’t seem to have been archived by Google but Joe Clark goes into detail on why prefilling text fields is a bad idea.

The other point I disagree with is that “text descriptions should follow radio and checkbox inputs” - I would say that they must. The RNIB show a good example of an inaccessible form when they’re out on the road and it demonstrates very well how confusing labels before their radio/check boxes can be…

Finally, it’s also worth noting point 15 in the guidelines list - that forms are data and as such can be marked up with tables. This subject comes up again and again on CSS-D and WebAIM so it’s good to see it being formally disseminated.

On the day the DDA ammends come into full effect here in the UK it seems fitting to post an accessibility link…

This one’s a little obtuse but yesterday I was asked if I knew of any good website accessibility statements. To my surprise, I couldn’t think of any so I went looking. One of the first I came across was on DiveIntoMark. It may be a bit long but it looks to me like it covers just about everything. It’s clearly written, logically laid out and provides links to just about everything you could need to access his site. I’d like to see his long list of acronyms put last on the page but that’s a minor criticism. Overall I think he’s done a great job! Hence the link.