Greetings - I am looking for clarification regarding SL360 built in buttons (insert button) versus buttons that I make myself, starting with a shape, adding one ore more states and adding one or more triggers.
I am guessing that there is no difference and that the built-in buttons are exactly what I am building, only with pre-configured states.
I am especially interested in how screen readers deal with these different types of items. Is there a difference? Is there any reason, other than personal preference, to use one method over another?
If the built in buttons do what you want, it seems a waste of time not to use them. However if they don't do exactly what you want, as is frequently the case, then you need to make modifications. Sometimes, you just want to modify the states. If you find yourself wanting to add new actions, just add trigger, If you want to modify actions, it is best to create from scratch, because the built in actions can't be changed, and created triggers that try to make them do something different can have really strange failures.
I should have been more specific. The built in states have actions. If you hover over, it invokes the built in trigger to change to the hover state. Same with visited, and selected.
I think Walt pretty much nailed it in terms of functionality. In regards to accessibility, a screen reader will read whatever text/alt text a button has and include button in the reading. A shape, on the other hand, will only read the text/alt text that was added to describe the shape.
Once you add any built-in states to the shape, "button" will be automatically read as well, so at that point, there should be no difference! Hope that clarifies it a bit for you!
6 Replies
If the built in buttons do what you want, it seems a waste of time not to use them. However if they don't do exactly what you want, as is frequently the case, then you need to make modifications. Sometimes, you just want to modify the states. If you find yourself wanting to add new actions, just add trigger, If you want to modify actions, it is best to create from scratch, because the built in actions can't be changed, and created triggers that try to make them do something different can have really strange failures.
I can't really speak to screen readers.
Thanks Walt. Built-in actions? When I insert a button there are no built-in
actions.
*Amy Nicholson*
*Multimedia Developer*
I should have been more specific. The built in states have actions. If you hover over, it invokes the built in trigger to change to the hover state. Same with visited, and selected.
Thanks Walt. Yes, that is the same as when I create my own button. Thanks
for your response.
*Amy Nicholson*
*Multimedia Developer*
Hi Amy,
I think Walt pretty much nailed it in terms of functionality. In regards to accessibility, a screen reader will read whatever text/alt text a button has and include button in the reading. A shape, on the other hand, will only read the text/alt text that was added to describe the shape.
Once you add any built-in states to the shape, "button" will be automatically read as well, so at that point, there should be no difference! Hope that clarifies it a bit for you!
Thank you Ren!
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