Re: Request input on the potential usefulness of HTML to Platform Accessibility APIs Implementation Guide

Hi Maciej thanks for the feedback

>For elements that do not have a natural ARIA role mapping, a guide on how
to map them to  native accessibility APIs is helpful. >We'd have to invent
our own cross-platform role name in such cases.

ARIA only provides a subset of the roles available in the various platform
APIs.
It is also intended that documenting where the gaps in roles are in platform
APIs can be used to consider specifying new roles in ARIA 1+

> The table as it stands seems awfully incomplete. It's hard to evaluate the
quality of the information until more of it is filled in.

It is.  But its complete compared to the attribute table...

 >We often apply heuristics to adapt inaccessible content, and firm rules
about how to map elements could go against that. So it >would be better if
any native API mapping requirements were suggestions or SHOULD-level
requirements instead of MUST-level.

It is my understanding that it is intended that the document will be
informative.

we are starting to look at what other information would be useful:
accessible name and description calculation from attributes and element
content is an area that I have started to work on.

with regards
Stevef

On 18 January 2011 20:15, Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com> wrote:

>
> In general, an accessibility implementation guide seems useful. Looking at
> the details a bit:
>
> - For WebKit's purposes in particular, we generally map elements to a
> cross-platform concept of role which matches ARIA roles whenever possible,
> and then map that cross-platform role to a platform-specific role depending
> on the specific accessibility API. So for elements where there is a natural
> ARIA role mapping, it is more useful to us to have a mapping from the
> element to the ARIA role, and then a mapping from ARIA role to the various
> native accessibility APIs. It's unhelpful to also have the direct table from
> element to native role; I suspect we wouldn't use it, and it would just make
> it more complicated to figure out the right mapping.
>
> - For elements that do not have a natural ARIA role mapping, a guide on how
> to map them to  native accessibility APIs is helpful. We'd have to invent
> our own cross-platform role name in such cases.
>
> - The table as it stands seems awfully incomplete. It's hard to evaluate
> the quality of the information until more of it is filled in.
>
> - We often apply heuristics to adapt inaccessible content, and firm rules
> about how to map elements could go against that. So it would be better if
> any native API mapping requirements were suggestions or SHOULD-level
> requirements instead of MUST-level.
>
> I'll ask our more accessibility-knowledgable folks for their input.
>
> Regards,
> Maciej
>
> On Jan 15, 2011, at 7:41 AM, Steve Faulkner wrote:
>
> A number of people including myself , Cynthia Shelly, Dave Bolter and Rich
> have started working on HTML to Platform Accessibility APIs Implementation
> Guide <http://dev.w3.org/html5/html-api-map/overview.html>. It is
> currently intended as a informative reference produced by the W3C HTML WG.
>
>
>
> The editor of the HTML5 specification has provided some feedback [1] on
> this document.
>
>
> I would appreciate some feedback from involved in the accessibility
> implementation space in regards to the usefulness of documenting the mapping
> between HTML elements and attributes and the roles states and properties in
> the various platform accessibility APIs. And what sort of information should
> be provided, if any.
>
> If as the HTML5 editor states;
>
> "the proposed document is unnecessary. Vendors have not shown an inability
> to read the existing normative specifications"
>
> then it would be good to know that is not needed and will not be useful to
> its target audience, so those involved can use their time on more productive
> pursuits.
>
>
> [1]
> http://wiki.whatwg.org/wiki/Objections_against_CP_for_ISSUE-129#The_HTML_to_Platform_Accessibility_APIs_Implementation_Guide
>
> --
> with regards
>
> Steve Faulkner
> Technical Director - TPG
>
> www.paciellogroup.com | www.HTML5accessibility.com |
> www.twitter.com/stevefaulkner
> HTML5: Techniques for providing useful text alternatives -
> dev.w3.org/html5/alt-techniques/
> Web Accessibility Toolbar -
> www.paciellogroup.com/resources/wat-ie-about.html
>
>
>
>


-- 
with regards

Steve Faulkner
Technical Director - TPG

www.paciellogroup.com | www.HTML5accessibility.com |
www.twitter.com/stevefaulkner
HTML5: Techniques for providing useful text alternatives -
dev.w3.org/html5/alt-techniques/
Web Accessibility Toolbar - www.paciellogroup.com/resources/wat-ie-about.html