[gui-talk] Google Search Settings Page No Longer Accessible

[Rasmussen, Lloyd]

Using Window-eyes 7.2 (not the latest version out there) and IE 8, and going to the Options, Settings page of google.com, I found that some of these items are being set by means of JavaScript controls.  With Browse mode on, Window-Eyes called them sliders.  With Browse mode off (equivalent to Forms mode for JAWS) these items are called track bars.  YOu should be able to adjust track bars with the arrow keys.  And the Help page says you won't get more than 10 results per page unless the Instant Search feature is turned off.  

Using this setup with Firefox (some version later than 4), I still see the link for screen reader users.  But I think that this is because the cookies for Firefox have not indicated to Google that I wanted that option changed.

There are so many combinations of browsers, screen readers and operating systems that you can't make many generalizations about the accessibility of any of them.

Results might be interesting if I went there with Lynx or with JavaScript disabled.

Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Project Engineer
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
Library of Congress   202-707-0535
http://www.loc.gov/nls
The preceding opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress, NLS.


-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gerald Levy
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 2:13 PM
To: gui-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [gui-talk] Google Search Settings Page No Longer Accessible


Hi list.  Has anyone else noticed that you can no longer change your search preferences on the Google Search Settings page?  The radio boxes previously used to select a particular option under each heading seem to have vanished.  For instance, under the Google Instant heading, On and Off are listed, but there are no radio or check boxes to select the option you want.  And under the Number of Search Results Per Page heading, the numbers 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100 are listed, but there seems to be no way to select the number you want.  And nothing happens when you hit Space or Enter on the Save button, so there is apparently no way to activate it to save your preferences like you could before.  I have tried JAWS 9, NVDA and SA to Go with both IE 8 and Firefox, but can't select anything on the Search Settings page no matter what screen reader/browser combination I try.  Has Google suddenly made its Search Settings page inaccessible, and is there any work around for this problem?
   Google seems to be becoming less and less accessible every day.  Maybe the NFB should look into this issue.  Thanks for any feedback.

Gerald 

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