[WEB4LIB] Re: js/css/dhtml and accessibility (was Re: Free Britannica Going Away)

[Thomas Dowling]

>
> On a different note, I notice that more web pages are using a
combination of
> javascript and CSS to produce 'drop-down' or 'fly-out' menu navigation
> structures.  While these are interesting tools, it does concern me that
core
> navigational functionality seems to require client javascript to be
activated in
> these cases.  This means that text browsers and browsers with javascript
turned
> off may experience more difficulty navigating these kinds of web
pages -- or
> does it?  I am curious to know what others on this list think of the
fly-out
> menu phenomenon in the context of web page accessibility.
>
> Thoughts?

IME, there are always ways to make the scripted functionality available
without scripting.  Too many sites (some of our own among them) fail to do
so for reasons I cannot describe without resorting to words like laziness,
ignorance, apathy, and disinterest.

I personally surf the web with scripting turned off; the percentage of
JavaScript functions which only annoy is too high for my taste, and a site
has to sell me on why I should add it to my list of "Trusted Sites" where
scripting is turned on.

I hammer on this a lot, but I don't think it can be repeated too often.
Scriptless surfing is an essential aspect of accessible web design.  Some
users disable it for reasons of cognitive disabilities; some because CERT
continues to advise it
<URL:http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1997-20.html>; some because they're
behind a firewall that filters scripts; some because things like pop-up
windows just piss them off (c.f. at least two other threads on this list).

If a site has any desire to present itself as accessible, it must be
usable with scripting turned off.


Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu