Re: Use of hidden labels/descriptions in the wild? [Re: HTML-A11y TF minutes, 17th May 2012]

On Sat, 19 May 2012 01:57:58 +0200, Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis  
<bhawkeslewis@googlemail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 8:07 PM, John Foliot <john@foliot.ca> wrote:
>> Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis wrote:
>>>
>>> In the minutes John Foliot is recorded as saying: "Benjamin is saying
>>> that it shouldn't be allowed to happen. It's already happening, so all
>>> we're trying to do is document the truth."
>>>
>>> Did he just mean that some browsers today expose @hidden content to
>>> accessible name and description calculation or is the assertion that
>>> there's some actual web content in the wild that depends on this
>>> behavior?
>>
>> "Still works when the link is hidden using the HTML5 hidden attribute  
>> or CSS display:none"
>>
>> http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2012/05/firefox-14-image-long-description-via-link-using-aria-describedby/
>
> Cheers for the clarification. Browser behavior is comparatively easy
> to change to whatever the WG decides is best.

The lesson from history (most recently writ large by the -webkit- prefix  
debate, but repeated pretty often) is that this is only true if you  
convince the browser makers that what the working group decides will be in  
the best interests of their customers. Which is no surprise - authors take  
the same approach to working groups, as shown by the same example.

Expecting the world to work some other way isn't a very effective approach  
to developing standards in a free market.

cheers

-- 
Charles 'chaals' McCathieNevile  Opera Software, Standards Group
     je parle français -- hablo español -- jeg kan noen norsk
http://my.opera.com/chaals       Try Opera: http://www.opera.com

Received on Tuesday, 22 May 2012 11:57:20 UTC