[Athen] Website accessibility

[Steve Green]

I regard changes to content on the same page as being a WCAG SC 1.3.1 issue on the basis that visual changes to content should be conveyed programmatically. We usually recommend ARIA live regions for this, with their assertiveness depending on the circumstances.

We would not usually move the focus because that would be a change of context. If the change of content has been adequately described by the live region and the page contains appropriate headings or other landmarks, it should be easy for a screen reader user to navigate to the new content, assuming they want to do so. There may be situations where it would make sense to move the focus automatically, but I can’t think of any other that simulating a page loading in a single-page application.

Steve


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Robert Spangler
Sent: 22 April 2022 14:40
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Website accessibility

Hey Steve, how about when activating a link causes new content to appear elsewhere on the page?  How is that supposed to be handled?  I notice quite frequently when this happens, the screen reader says nothing and the focus isn't moved to the position on the page with the new content. I'm left wondering if the link was activated at all (links not activating is an issue at times) or searching the page for the new content.

In regards to links opening in new tabs, I don't care much for the practice, but at least a message stating, "Link opened in new tab" or something like that would alleviate the annoyance.  I'm not sure of the best way to handle this for other situations, but at least for screen readers this would be appropriate.

Thanks,
Robert


On Fri, Apr 22, 2022 at 9:09 AM Steve Green <steve.green at testpartners.co.uk<mailto:steve.green at testpartners.co.uk>> wrote:
Opening a new tab *is* considered a change of context. WCAG specifically defines a change of viewport as a change of context. See https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/change-on-request.html#dfn-changes-of-context

However, for links, it’s an expected change of context. Everyone knows that it can happen, even if they don’t expect it to in a particular circumstance.

I am certainly not advocating opening links in new tabs – I have seen it cause plenty of problems during user testing with screen reader users, screen magnifier users and dyslexic people. But it’s only an annoyance, not a complete barrier.

And WCAG 2.1 AA is hardly the barest minimum of accessibility – a website that is fully conformant will be accessible to the vast majority of disabled people.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Katherine Deibel
Sent: 22 April 2022 13:55
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Website accessibility


> There’s plenty of evidence that it does not confusion in some users, notably those with cognitive issues.


Argh… not enough caffeine yet. That should be:
          There’s plenty of evidence that it does create confusion in some users, notably those with cognitive issues.

Katherine “Kate” Deibel, PhD
Library Accessibility Specialist
Twitter: https://twitter.com/metageeky
GitHub: https://github.com/metageeky

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Katherine Deibel
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2022 8:44 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Website accessibility

I’ll stand corrected but it greatly bothers me that opening a new tab is not considered a change of context. There’s plenty of evidence that it does not confusion in some users, notably those with cognitive issues. Plus, it creates a whole new browsing context in terms of browser history.

Once again, a good example of how WCAG is the barest minimum of accessibility.

Katherine “Kate” Deibel, PhD
Library Accessibility Specialist
Twitter: https://twitter.com/metageeky
GitHub: https://github.com/metageeky

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of glen walker
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2022 12:58 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Website accessibility


> Strictly WCAG, you need to provide an indication of this unexpected behavior as it creates a change of context for the user.


That's a matter of interpretation.  If you're alluding to WCAG 3.2.2 On Input, clicking a link and going to a new page (whether in the existing tab or a new tab/window) is *expected* behavior because that's what a link does.  You don't have to tell the user you're going to do that.

We had a discussion about this recently on the WebAIM forum - https://webaim.org/discussion/mail_thread?thread=10383#post0


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Robert Spangler
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