Accessibility issue: Scripts
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index3a.html
This page demonstrates two aspects of accessible dynamic menus.
First, the menus on this page are device-independent. Users are able to see the pop-up submenus either by pointing to a menu button with the mouse or by keyboarding to a menu button with the Tab Key. The "tabindex" attribute is used to control tab order, so that users tab into the submenu after it has appeared. This works reasonably well for the small Accessible University menu, but for longer menus users may prefer not automatically entering a submenu. What then is the solution? If a keyboard user can make a pop-up menu appear, what key should they hit next in order to enter that submenu? What key should they hit to bypass it? Several prototype solutions have been developed, but no standard has emerged. For more information, see the AccessIT Knowledge Base articles How do scripting languages affect accessibility? and Is it possible to develop an accessible dynamic menu? (links will open in a new window)
Also, the improved keyboard accessibility does not constitute a complete accessibility solution. Some users' assistive technology is still unable to access the popup menus. Also, handheld computer users still can't access the popup menus because there is no "onmouseover" equivalent for stylus users.
Since it presently not possible to make dynamic menus accessible to all users, an equivalent accessible version of the submenus must be provided. The standard means by which this is accomplished is via one or more secondary pages, linked from the root level menu items. For example, on the current AU Page, if a user tabs to Campus Calendar, they can press Enter to bring up a secondary page that includes all campus calendar links. For this demonstration, we have simply provided the complete expanded navigation menu on the new page, with no menus hidden. We have also provided a variety of mechanisms for making these menus accessible: Each heading is identified as an H2 element so some assistive technologies will allow users to jump quickly among these headings. Also, multiple skip navigation links are provided, linking to each of the menu headings. Each heading is labeled with a named anchor, and the root level buttons on the referring page links directly to the corresponding named anchor. Note that the skip navigation links are invisible until the user tabs to them. This technique is described in more detail on the next page of this Guide.
After showing these examples, follow the link near the top of the page to Instruction.
When finished, Go to next page.