Forms

i. Fill-in the blank forms should clearly state what information is required before the blank. (screen readers will read the text first)
ii. Using a table to layout a form is acceptable if the form linearizes properly within the table. Linear order of the table is to move from left to right across the first row, then down a row again reading content from left to right. Give careful thought to the linear order of a form prior to constructing it in a form.
iii. Three accessibility techniques can be implemented in the design of forms.
1. Placing form field prompts prior to form fields
a. The proper placement of form field prompts is the best choice. Each of the other techniques has merits, but is not problem free.
b. A form field prompt is the visual text that directs the completion of the form field. For example: First Name would be a prompt, as would City, State, Date of Birth, etc. Proper placement of a form field prompt is dependent upon the form field to which it is associated. The guidelines for placement follow the form reading processes the development teams of the major screen reader technologies have set in their applications.
2. using the LABEL HTML tag
a. The LABEL HTML tag associates the form field with a text label. If a designer implements this code, then the form field label placement becomes flexible.
b. A strong argument can be made to focus on proper placement of form field prompts rather than rely upon the LABEL HTML tag. Two points of support for this argument are that:
i. Not all screen readers, even current versions support the LABEL tag. (Only IBM's Home Page Reader provides support.) Support may not be included on future versions.
ii. Use of the LABEL tag requires a bit of HTML knowledge. If you don't feel comfortable in the code and aren't a user of Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, rely upon the linear order we discussed a bit earlier. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX includes a form function that prompts the user to assign form field labels. With this functionality enabled, accessible form design is quite simple.
3. Use of a title attribute within the HTML code for a form field
a. Title is a component of the HTML in any form field. In the example that follows, the title equals "Enter your street address".
b. <input type="text" name="street_address2" title="Enter your street address"/>
c. This technique is not widely advocated as the use of title in the HTML tag input is not a part of the HTML or XHTML specifications of the World Wide Web Consortium.
iv. Timed-Responses
1. Designers can use programming scripts to set a time limit on completing a form. One example of a time constraint is a limit for completion of a quiz. Standard (p) requires that a student is made aware of the time limitation prior to initiating the quiz and is also able to request more time if needed and acceptable to the task at hand. It is understood that in some cases, extending a time limit eliminates the validity of an assessment measure. This would be a fair place for departmental processes or pedagogy to be a factor in assisting individuals that need more time.
2. Several guidelines should shape the use of a timed response.
a. Precede all timed response mechanisms with an alert that a timed response is in use.
b. Provide a counter that notifies a user how much time remains.
c. Allow a user to request more time if this is acceptable.