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Is it possible to dynamically update a portion of a webpage (for example: to display a list of errors from a form submission) and indicate to screen readers that they should skip to the updated portion?

Are full (non-Ajax) postbacks the only way to have accessible error messages?

Edit (please see comments)

To be clear, by "screen readers", I am referring to software that either speaks the text on the screen or converts that text to Braille.

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You can dynamically update a portion of a web page using Ajax. –  Alpine Feb 20 '11 at 18:58
@Alpine Yes, that's what I'm doing. How do I let screen readers know that I've done so? –  ClosureCowboy Feb 20 '11 at 19:00
You can flash the content. For example if its a text message you can flash it in a different color for a second as soon as it is updated. –  Alpine Feb 20 '11 at 19:06
@Alpine I'll update the question. –  ClosureCowboy Feb 20 '11 at 19:09

1 Answer 1

up vote 0 down vote accepted

Maybe this might help

Making Ajax Work with Screen Readers

Also See
Implementing Screen Reader in Ajax

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thank you for your answer, but did you see the update at the bottom of my question? By "screen readers", I don't mean "people reading the screen". I'm referring to: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_reader Changing text color won't help. –  ClosureCowboy Feb 20 '11 at 19:14
Also take a look at ajaxwith.com/Implementing-Screen-Reader-in-Ajax.html –  Alpine Feb 20 '11 at 19:58

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