Category: roundup

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forms roundup

Accessible Date Pickers

Unfortunately, several shiny HTML5 features (such as the video element), ended up implemented to different levels by browsers, without good accessibility, and without an interface that satisfied designers (a nearly impossible task). This includes the date input.

And a designer should first ask, is a date picker actually needed?

Recently on Twitter, there was some discussion about accessible date picker widgets. Jason Kiss (@JKiss) did some analysis and gave feedback.

https://twitter.com/jkiss/status/720720467829493760 (Tweet no longer exists.)

I felt compelled to list the examples of accessible date pickers mentioned in the Twitter thread, so here they are. Know any other good ones?

PS: In the tweet thread, props to @handcoding, @pauljadam, and @backflip.

Related articles:

Last updated Nov 2023

Categories
color design roundup tools

Color Contrast Tools

Here are some tools that specifically check for color contrast accessibility issues on websites. And a few related links below. Know any others?

Updated April 2024. Please feel free to comment with additions and corrections.

color wheel

Categories
event roundup

Upcoming Accessibility Events

Some great accessibility events coming up!

Did I miss anything? Please add in comments.

Update Sep 24: added Ottawa and Chicago events

Categories
design navigation roundup

Infinite Scrolling and Accessibility (It’s Usually Bad)

Experts say don’t do infinite scrolling, or be extremely careful in doing so. I completely agree. Infinite scrolling creates accessibility and usability problems. Below are checkpoints, issues and suggestions from a few resources.

Here’s a great list of checkpoints from the article So You Think You’ve Built a Good Infinite Scroll by Adrian Roselli (@aardrian):

  1. Can the user hit “back” and return to the exact same place?
  2. Is there paging for when the JavaScript breaks?
  3. Does the page have a footer?
  4. Can a keyboard user access all other content on the page?
  5. Can you share a URL to a specific place on the page?
  6. Can a user easily jump ahead a few “pages” to quickly get to content much further down the list?
  7. Does the memory footprint of the page dramatically increase after just a couple new “pages?”
  8. Is there a way to disable automatic infinite scrolling and lean on standard paging?
  9. Have you conducted any user tests?
  10. Are you satisfying a use case that has come from research or user request?
  11. Do you have any analytics/tracking to measure success?

In the article Infinite Scrolling: Let’s Get To The Bottom Of This, Smashing Magazine makes some great points including the following.

Fails: temptation, optimism, exhaustion, pogo-sticking, loss of control, distracting, unreachable

  • Users want immediate access to exclusive data.
  • Users want to feel in control.
  • Users often look for landmarks when scrolling.
  • Consider conventional pagination or a hybrid solution.
  • Provide interesting content without an ambiguous interface.
  • Users often expect a footer.
  • An infinite list is still a list.
  • Effects are nice to have but not a must.

In the Simply Accessible article Automatic infinite scrolling & accessibility, Derek Featherstone (@Feather) says:

  • Just don’t implement infinite scrolling.
  • Replace automatic infinite scrolling with a “Load more results…” button or link that explicitly invites the user to add more. Once they do a few times, prompt them to ask if they’d like to turn auto-loading of more results on.
  • No, really, just don’t implement infinite scrolling.

Further reading:

Categories
roundup testing

Link Roundup – June 2015