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Re: Accessibility of complex HTML forms


From: Peter-Paul Koch
Date: Jun 27, 2003 2:06AM

>I have to say though that I like Peter-Paul Koch's solution the best. That
>said though, his work around for accessibility or rather for the lack of
>JavaScript seems like it would only work in some situations.

When the user has JavaScript disabled he sees the form fields in the order
you put them in the HTML.

>Is it a given that disabled users turn JavaScript off?

No. A nearsighted person for instance, enlarges the browser font but doesn't
need to do anything to JavaScript.

>Would it be reasonable to warn a disabled user that the form is dynamic and
>uses JavaScript but is accessible if JavaScript is turned off?

No. Why bother? They'll see the form in the best way possible for their
browser. That's your job, not theirs.

>This way one could provide a solution which in a sense covers both
>Peter-Paul Koch's solution (dyanamic form only showing relevant fields) as
>well as Terence and Jukka's solution (show all forms with added
>to answer only particular questions).

You could paste their questions into my span class="accessibility". Users
only see the questions when the script doesn't work.

ppk, freelance web developer
Interactie, copywriting, JavaScript, integration
New: Forms, usability and the W3C DOM:


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