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

[Mike Freeman]

I did some experimentation this morning and, as I suspected, things aren't quite as simple and cut-and-dried as most on this list are painting them. In particular, those who are fulminating against Google should pay close attention to the below as it illustrates perfectly why caution is in order and why venting one's spleen because something is supposedly not accessible may, in fact, be either operator error or the inability of one's screen-reading technology to handle a perfectly legitimate web construct.

Using JAWS 12 and IE7 from my work computer, I saw what seemed to me a "normal" Google search page. Below the "Search" and "I'm Feeling Lucky" buttons was an "Options" link. JAWS 12 showed it as a link. As Steve says below, clicking on the link seems to accomplish nothing. However, this is not the case. If one arrows down after hitting the "Options" link, one finds that the page has expanded to include a bunch of new links including one to go to SPreferences and thence to earch Settings where there are constructs to set all the parameters we're used to.

I haven't checked this at home with JAWS 13 and IE8 yet but I know that this "Options" construct below the search says "Has pop-up" which presumably means that clicking on it (hitting ENTER) expands the page as described above. I'll test this later today when I'm home.

So before blaming everyone and everything, it's always a good idea to ask lots of questions and experiment a bit and always be ready to be adaptable and acknowledge that something new (but not necessarily inaccessible) is going on.

Incidentally, anyone who has searched Microsoft's security pages for product bulletins will have encountered this "pop-up" construct as it's been around all 2011.

Mike Freeman


On Dec 14, 2011, at 12:09, "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com> wrote:

> I'm a bit confused here.  I see that there are differences on the search page of Google and that there 
> is no "screen reader" link, but I am not noticing any real differences in the search.  Am I missing 
> something?
> 
> I am not able to find a link to get to the search options, though.  There is an "options" link that for 
> me does not seem to do anything.  From what I have read, I understand that there are changes there that 
> are not good but am wondering how people are getting there.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Steve Jacobson
> 
> On Wed, 14 Dec 2011 04:02:28 -0800, hawkeye wrote:
> 
>> I have had sighted assistance on this.  This is no line to check for
>> screenreaders.  There once was but there isn't now.  Been to the start up
>> page, been to the homesite, there is no line for screenreaders. 
> 
>> -----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 2:29 PM
>> To: Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Google Search Settings Page No Longer Accessible
> 
> 
>> This is all well and good if all you want to do is turn off Google Instant. 
>> But what if you want to change the number of search results per page from
>> the default of 10 to 20 or 50?  Or specify that each search result opens in
>> a new browser window?  Apparently, there is no longer any way to accomplish
>> this.
> 
>> Gerald
> 
> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Jude DaShiell" <jdashiel at shellworld.net>
>> To: "Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List" 
>> <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 5:10 PM