Accessible mutiselect checkboxes

[tothomweb]

Hi, I am trying to make a accessible form from indesign. I've only had problems with one field. I would like to make a group of checkboxes with multiple selection.

The problem that I find is that if I give the same name to all the checkboks to create a group (as I do with the option buttons), only one of the checkboxes works in acrobat, if on the contrary I give them different names, a Screen reader user does not know that it is a group of checkboxes (similar to <fieldset> tag in html) and treats them as separate checkboxes.

The second option is not accessible. I cannot provide any generic tags to the user to inform them what the question is about.

An example of a group of multiple selection checkboxes would be an Interests field where I have several options, such as Sports, News, Culture, Cinema, Music. The user has to know that he is in a checkbox group that asks about her interests.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

By giving the checkboxes the same group name, you're instructing them to be mutually exclusive: that is, only one can be checked at a time.

Regardless of what they look like, they are technically "Radio Buttons."

Learn how to set up real checkboxes with this guide from Ted Padova:  http://www.tedpadova.com/govt.html

Although it deals with Acrobat X, the information is still valid today. Ted Padova was one of the great experts in PDF, and although he retired from the field, his excellent guidance lives on via the web. Thank goodness! And thank you Ted!

FYI, we use his handout in my Accessible Forms class.

[tothomweb]

Thanks for this interesting resource, but if I'm not mistaken the guide is to get these forms with Acrobat. I already know how it works, but what I really want to know is if I can build it directly with indesign.