Re: Accessibility and Forms Buttons

At 10:25 AM 29/05/01 +0100, you wrote:
>I, too, am interested what reaction a screen reader has when it encounters=
 a
>form field.  It doesn't help much to say that submit buttons should be
>clearly "labelled".  We need to see some HTML code.

I believe that <.input type=3D"submit" value=3D"Submit"> will do and the=
 speech=20
browser will read "Submit".  I'm not sure about image buttons but I thought=
=20
the ALT ATTRIBUTE (not tag) was valid for it.

>Do we need a clear "NAME" attribute?  Do we need HTML text which  explains
>what the button does?  Do we need to use a "LABEL" attribute, or some
>non-standard attribute?

For other input like text boxes you can use the LABEL tag to group the form=
=20
input element to its descriptive text as in:

<label for=3D"FirstName" title=3D"Enter your first name here">
First Name: <input type=3D"text" name =3D"FirstName" value=3D"" size=3D"30"=
=20
maxlength=3D"100">
</label>

In compliant browsers, clicking the "First Name" text would bring focus to=
=20
the text box.  This works for radio buttons, check boxes and all other form=
=20
elements.

>Could someone recommend some good screen reading software for us to try=
 out?

I couldn't find one a couple years ago or what was available was very=20
exensive.  Maybe that changed?

HTH!

St=E9phane Bergeron

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