[Athen] Drop down menu/ Flyout menu advice needed

[Vicki Walton]

I have been asked a question that I am not sure how to answer.  I am looking for advice. Thank you in advance.

Just a bit about me. I am a functional accessibility tester. I am not a developer.


Question:

In the screenshot I included, because Bates Technical College is first alphabetically, it shows as the immediate option at the top of the list. It also has the gray engaged shading and dashed box around it. The enhancement request asks for a blank space at the beginning of the dropdown instead. So the drop-down would change from the current behavior to look something like this after:

[Image displaying the current institution dropdown menu on the left with Bates Technical College first, and an updated dropdown on the right with a blank space firs.]

Our concern was that having a blank space at the top of the list may not be the best option for accessibility, even if the dropdown was functioning as expected for screen readers. With this in mind, would it be recommended to have the top of the list read "Select a value" or something similar instead of blank?



[Title: SBCTC logo - Description: Compass]Vicki Walton
Pronouns: they/them
Web Accessibility Specialist/IT Quality Assurance Tester
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
vwalton at sbctc.edu* office: 360-704-4343* website: www.sbctc.edu<https://www.sbctc.edu/default.aspx>



Digital Equity: Push for Universal Design. Build more of that in. ~ Paul Grossman

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