Design and Accessibility: Part IX

Accessible Form Problems and Solutions II

In the previous design and accessibility article, Linda dissected how accessible and usable forms can be designed for Websites in the HTML and/or XHTML document. In this article, Linda sharpens the difference between Web designers and Web developers, as designers may not always understand the scripting and processing that enables forms to function. To help in this regard, Linda shares how forms are processed by the viewer’s user agent, and why some processors are better than others. She then discusses why the W3C and the PAS-78 (U.K.’s new Publicly Available Specification) currently maintain negative perspectives about developers who use JavaScript applications and – similarly – about designers and clients who insist upon using these applications. To address this negativity, Linda provides fall-back solutions for designers and/or developers who want to continue to use JavaScript as a stand-alone application or as an addition to other technologies like AJAX in their Websites.

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Overview

How Form Processing Works

You’ve created a form for your Website, and you’ve designed this form for viewers to either search a program by a query or to post information via E-mail. In this section, I’ll describe what happens when the developer adds the processing to your design, and why certain programs are better for form processing than others at this point in Website accessibility-land. I’ll also provide the reasons for unsuccessful controls (or why that form doesn’t work), and then I’ll talk a bit about why the W3C and the PAS-78 prefer that developers avoid JavaScript, especially when that scripting is used for form processing.

While most designers aren’t required to know the following information, it might help if you do understand the form delivery process. When you add the following knowledge to information about what scripting the developer uses to process forms, then you’ll know whether your form is truly accessible or even usable. In that regard, I’ll provide some fairly negative perspectives from W3C and from the PAS-78 on the use of JavaScript in any application. Then, I’ll offer some very simple solutions for designers and/or developers who want to continue to use JavaScript to process those forms.

Linda Goin

Linda GoinLinda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.

Accolades for her work include fifteen first-place Colorado Press Association awards, numerous fine art and graphic design awards, and interviews about content development with The Wall St. Journal, Chicago Tribune, Psychology Today, and L.A. Times.

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