Issue List: Issue: Automatic Page Refreshes

A timer causes some pages to automatically refresh. This functionality typically trips up screen readers, causing them to hop back to the top of a page and read it again. It is not difficult to set the preference to disable this functionality, but it is imparative that screen reader users know that this can be set. Also, for certain applications, such as the web-based chat, it does not seem to be possible to disable the feature (note: verify this). D2L notes that screen refresh is a key part of the architecture, so having screen refresh set to off by default is probably not a workable solution at this stage. Are there less obtrusive alternatives that could still maintain accessibility for screen readers? For example, in an AJAX implementation, could a JavaScript focus event be used to tell the screen reader user that content had changed? (This is a big question on AJAX; the jury is still out.)

This issue has been revised on 7/21/08. A variation of it appears either in global issues or in the resolved issues sections.