RE: Regarding selected cells within a static data table

If the information may not be conveyed by color alone problem is solved with
something like a different font attribute rather than an image or additional
characters, then I would use off-screen text, a span with role image, or
something of that nature. Those are valid solutions that do not require any
redesign.

 

Is there any reason not to use a solution like that?

 

Matt

 

From: Bryan Garaventa [mailto:bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com] 
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2018 10:13 AM
To: White, Jason J <jjwhite@ets.org>; James Nurthen <nurthen@adobe.com>;
ARIA Working Group <public-aria@w3.org>
Subject: RE: Regarding selected cells within a static data table

 

Thanks, I know that, that is why I'm raising this here.

 

>From Matt: "First, what is the non-color representation? How is that not
accessible? For instance, if there is a checkmark graphic, make the
checkmark accessible."

 

There is no checkmark, there may be a background image, there may be only a
CSS color: red, there may be a different color used for the text being
displayed, there may be lots of situations that are entirely variable and
not obvious to a non-sighted user.

 

So, there needs to be a simple way of setting this information for
non-sighted users that doesn't involve full website redesign to accomplish.

 

 

Bryan Garaventa

Accessibility Fellow

Level Access, Inc.

Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com <mailto:Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com> 

415.624.2709 (o)

www.LevelAccess.com <http://www.LevelAccess.com> 

 

From: White, Jason J <jjwhite@ets.org <mailto:jjwhite@ets.org> > 
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2018 10:09 AM
To: Bryan Garaventa <bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com
<mailto:bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com> >; James Nurthen <nurthen@adobe.com
<mailto:nurthen@adobe.com> >; ARIA Working Group <public-aria@w3.org
<mailto:public-aria@w3.org> >
Subject: RE: Regarding selected cells within a static data table

 

I don't think there's any ARIA state/property with the required semantics.
The definition of aria-selected is clear that it applies only to widgets;
aria-disabled wouldn't apply to the unavailable cells, as this state is
defined in terms of availability for interaction.

 

From: Bryan Garaventa <bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com
<mailto:bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com> > 
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2018 1:03 PM
To: Bryan Garaventa <bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com
<mailto:bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com> >; James Nurthen <nurthen@adobe.com
<mailto:nurthen@adobe.com> >; ARIA Working Group <public-aria@w3.org
<mailto:public-aria@w3.org> >
Subject: RE: Regarding selected cells within a static data table

 

To be clear, I'm not asking how do you make this accessible, because I
already know all of the hacks you can use such as using embedded images with
alts, offscreen text, etc, but specifically, how do you do this using only
ARIA? 

 

Which ARIA attribute can be used to convey such simple information as this?

 

 

 

Bryan Garaventa

Accessibility Fellow

Level Access, Inc.

Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com <mailto:Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com> 

415.624.2709 (o)

www.LevelAccess.com <http://www.LevelAccess.com> 

 

From: Bryan Garaventa <bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com
<mailto:bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com> > 
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2018 9:58 AM
To: James Nurthen <nurthen@adobe.com <mailto:nurthen@adobe.com> >; ARIA
Working Group <public-aria@w3.org <mailto:public-aria@w3.org> >
Subject: RE: Regarding selected cells within a static data table

 

Hi,

This is not an interactive widget, but a static display conveyed by color
alone.

 

One use case is this, you have a product comparison table that indicates a
series of horizontal product features with in the column headers, and then
you have a series of product models in each row where each row header in the
left most column is a different product, and each cell has specific details
of supported features but only some cells are selected as being available
but others are not. These cells are not meant to be widgets, but they convey
selected information that must be conveyed. The same use case applies when
comparing health care plans, financial account plans, and many others.

 

So how do you convey the selected state of non-interactive cells like this?

 

 

 

 

 

Bryan Garaventa

Accessibility Fellow

Level Access, Inc.

Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com <mailto:Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com> 

415.624.2709 (o)

www.LevelAccess.com
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From: James Nurthen <nurthen@adobe.com <mailto:nurthen@adobe.com> > 
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2018 9:18 AM
To: Bryan Garaventa <bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com
<mailto:bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com> >; ARIA Working Group
<public-aria@w3.org <mailto:public-aria@w3.org> >
Subject: Re: Regarding selected cells within a static data table

 

Can I clarify 1 point. Is this intended to allow a user to make a selection
or is it only intended to indicate what is selected (as the result of
another process)

 

 

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From: Bryan Garaventa <bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com
<mailto:bryan.garaventa@levelaccess.com> >
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2018 8:54:22 AM
To: ARIA Working Group
Subject: Regarding selected cells within a static data table 

 

Hi,
This came up last week, and seems to indicate a missing area in what we have
available in either aria-current or aria-selected, but I'm not sure which.

The scenario is a static data table where a series of situations are
possible, (1) all cells in a column are highlighted as being selected, (2)
all cells in a row are highlighted as being selected, or (3) any number of
random cells within the data table are highlighted as being selected.

I was asked if aria-current could be used for this, but this does not
actually fit because this only deals with one current item in a collection.

Similarly, the aria-selected attribute won't work because it is not
supported on role="cell".

Also, it is invalid to add role="grid" to the construct just to expose
aria-selected because this is a static data table and is not an interactive
widget.

So, since nothing is available to deal with this, it seems that it should be
either handled by aria-current or aria-selected, even though at present it
does not.

Would it be agreeable to extend aria-selected to be supported on
role="cell"?

Or, would adding a token to aria-current be more agreeable such as
aria-current="selected"?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks,
Bryan



Bryan Garaventa
Accessibility Fellow
Level Access, Inc.
Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com <mailto:Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com> 
415.624.2709 (o)
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