[pmwiki-users] Section 508 compliance

Patrick R. Michaud pmichaud at pobox.com
Tue Nov 29 15:27:02 CST 2005


On Tue, Nov 29, 2005 at 03:19:43PM -0600, Patrick R. Michaud wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 29, 2005 at 04:06:48PM -0500, Waylan Limberg wrote:
> > No not quite, but almost. For starters, all form fields must have
> > labels. 
> 
> From what I read, this particular requirement is a myth that many
> automated checkers misinterpet.  See 
> http://www.ittatc.org/technical/experts/answers.php?qa_id=45
> (which itself was linked to from the section508.gov site).
> 
> So, technically, PmWiki is Section 508 compliant in this respect,
> with the exception of the form on ?action=attr.  

Reading a bit further, the actual specification from the U.S. Access Board
(http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/1194.22.htm) says:

    (n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the 
    form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the 
    information, field elements, and functionality required for 
    completion and submission of the form, including all directions and 
    cues.

In particular, the later text of the same document reads:

    How can developers provide accessible HTML forms?

    The first rule of thumb is to place labels adjacent to input fields, 
    not in separate cells of a table. For the web developer who does 
    not wish to place form elements immediately adjacent to their 
    corresponding titles, the HTML 4.0 specification includes the 
    <LABEL> tag that lets web developers mark specific elements 
    as "labels" and then associate a form element with that label. [...]

PmWiki follows the first rule of thumb, in that it generally places 
its labels immediately adjacent to input fields and not in separate
cells of a table.  

Pm




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