Password protection
Hi All,
On the website i am developing, i have a login screen with an email address field and a password filed.
When the password field is read out by the screen reader i am using for testing (NVDA) it reads out 'Password edit protect'
Now i don't think that this is confussing, however a colleague said that he thought this might give the impression that the field it not editable.
I am making the assumption (which i know is a dangerous thing to do!!!) that people who use the web with a screen reader will be familiar with this and understand that this just means that the data entered into this field will be protected from sight by asterix's.
Could someone advise me whether my assumption is correct or if not then what i need to do to make it more accessible.
Thanks in advance
Hannah
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Hannah,
It's not just web page password fields that are read like that - the browser's authentication prompt password field is announced the same way and I suspect that holds true for any other password prompt on your operating system. I understand your colleague's point but you're using a common, standard UI control that should be considered accessible as long as it's labeled properly.
And speaking from US 508 experience, password fields have never been flagged as problematic in any of several applications I've worked on for the US government.
I've done a lot of reading on usability and accessibility and don't recall ever seeing advice discouraging use of password fields. But to be sure, I googled a bit and came up with a couple articles that raise fair concerns (though I don't see much in the way of evidence/data, and neither seems to suggest that users could be confused about whether the field is editable):
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/07/the_pros_and_co.html
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/passwords.html
So there could be usability issues worth considering depending on your environment but in terms of achieving accessibility I think most people's time is better spent on other things.
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Browser password fields created using <input type="password" ...> will try to work like a native control. Even the login prompt when the computer starts up (or resumes from protected screen saver, standby, sleep, hibernation, etc) would be announced the same way.
As such, it's out of scope for individual websites. Individual users get used to the way their particular operating system handled password fields.
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| hcarlisle wrote: |
| however a colleague said that he thought this might give the impression that the field it not editable... |
I've come up against this a few times whereby a sighted user uses a screen reader and comes up with issues that aren't really issues but lack of familiarity with the software. It's commendable that the effort is being made but results need to be treated with caution and the ideal is that a user with a visual impairment does the testing.
Design, development and marketing for the web.
Edge Three Sixty Ltd: Web Design Liverpool
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