[Athen] jQuery

[Terrill Thompson]

Heidi and others, 

I'm currently at the HighEdWeb conference, where this issue (accessibility
of Javascript frameworks) has come up repeatedly in multiple sessions. I'm
excited to see such a strong interest in accessibility among the higher ed
web developers here. Given the interest in this topic, I've expanded on my
early reply in a blog post at http://terrillthompson.com

Terry
 


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

> From: Terrill Thompson [mailto:tft at u.washington.edu]

> Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 9:09 AM

> To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'

> Subject: RE: [Athen] jQuery

> 

> 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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