[Athen] jQuery

[Terrill Thompson]

Hi Heidi, 

JQuery is one of several "Javascript libraries" that developers are using to
add widgets to their sites. With tools like these developers can add complex
interactive features to their web sites just by plugging in code from the
libraries, rather than writing it from scratch themselves. This has
potential to be a good thing for accessibility: If the libraries are
accessible, then anyone who uses them ends up with accessible features on
their website, even developers who wouldn't otherwise have thought much
about accessibility. However, if the libraries are not accessible, the
opposite is true. 

There are folks who are working diligently to ensure accessibility of some
of the most popular libraries, including JQuery. I'm not sure what the
status is of this work, but here are some helpful links: 

JQuery accessibility group: 
http://groups.google.com/group/jquery-a11y/

Dojo Toolkit Accessibility:
I think Dojo was the first to include accessibility, and seems from my
perspective to still be leading the pack:
http://dojotoolkit.org/developer/a11yStatement

Yahoo! User Interface
They announced yesterday that "a handful of features" include support for
accessibility: 
http://yuiblog.com/blog/2008/10/02/yui-aria/

Terry

Terry Thompson
Technology Accessibility Specialist
DO-IT, Accessible Technology
UW Technology Services
University of Washington
tft at u.washington.edu
206/221-4168 






> -----Original Message-----

> From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On

> Behalf Of Heidi Scher

> Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 6:18 AM

> To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network

> Subject: [Athen] jQuery

> 

> Happy Friday all!

> 

> Just curious if anyone has any familiarity with web design using

> JQuery?  If so, can you give me a quick idea of the accessibility

> issues with using JQuery?

> 

> Using it came up at our web techs meeting yesterday - first I'd heard

> of it, so I'm more than curious now. One person described it as using

> JAVA but if JAVA was turned off, the HTML would still be there.

> 

> Enlightenment from anyone would be appreciated!

> 

> Heidi

> 

> +++++++++++++++

> Heidi Scher, M.S., CRC

> Associate Director

> Center for Educational Access

> University of Arkansas

> ARKU 104

> Fayetteville, AR 72701

> 479.575.3104

> 479.575.7445 fax

> 479.575.3646 tdd

> 

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