Improvements to site accessibility

  • I would like to suggest making major improvements to the site to improve its accessibility, in particular for those who need to use a screen reader.

    I have found a fair number of images without alt or title tags and HTML form inputs without associated label tags in various areas of the site. So far my testing has not been exhaustive, but I'm happy to post the list here of what I have found to date, or to provide this information via private message or email. Its how I found the issues raised in the website issues forum earlier today.

    John

  • I'm not sure it's just a screen reader having that problem. I don't use a screen reader and I see that a lot. Even Steve Jones has one in his signature line.

    There might be a bigger problem...

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • Please feel free to post things. It would be good to slowly dig in and try to correct things as we go.

  • Here goes. This is not thorough, its just what I found when having a quick check.

    Images without alt or title tags:

    Graphics such as Technical article, simple-talk, MSSQLTips, stairways, star and half filled star on the following tabs:

    Home

    Tags

    Articles

    Editorials

    Stairways

    RSS icons on forums homepage

    Videos

    Blog posts

    Stars on the scripts page

    The emoticons beside a forum posting window and the More... link to expand

    Plus the Ad bar in the header and side menu below the Write for us

    In My Briefcase, the edit and delete icons have empty alt tags.

    HTML forms without label tags for input elements:

    Login page (https://www.sqlservercentral.com/Login)

    Reset my password

    Register now

    Add topic

    Add reply

    QoTD question archive

    Nickname on the My Account form

    My Account -> Change my Password

    My Account -> Change my email address

    On jobs.sqlservercentral.com all of the checkboxes

    As per my postings in the website issues forum, I haven't checked the Ask SSC section.

    I have had to do both testing and fixing recently for an in house application, I know it isn't a quick thing to do but it does help meet statutory requirements for disability access.

    A quick tip I picked up from this is that if things are set up properly, you should be able to click the mouse on the text label, and focus should be moved to the associated HTML input or textarea.

    This is by no means complete, but should get you something to think about. Testing tools such as http://wave.webaim.org/ can be very useful in picking up some less obvious items or offering suggestions.

  • Thanks, I'll see if we can't clean up some of this.

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