RE: Extensible ARIA?

James Craig wrote:
"I'm assuming you mean something like "Press Control + J key to perform
Action X."  Is that right? What would this mean to a user that did not have
an Control key, or did not have a keyboard for that matter? What about a
user on a platform that had both but expected the primary modifier to be
something other than Control? Wouldn't it be better to convey
programmatically the actions that could be performed and let the AT or
mainstream user interface perform these in a way that is independent of one
specific physical interface."

No, I wasn't thinking about specific commands. We're already starting to see
ATs provide that kind of information, for example Jaws announcing "Press
Jawskey alt m to move to controlled element" when it encounters
aria-controls.

The problem is at a higher level than that. It's knowing what the widget
itself is, and what it entails. Having the role identified isn't enough
information, especially when someone can't pick up on the visual cues that
make it easier to understand the expected interaction.

It's one thing to know that a command will move focus to a controlled
element, but that isn't all that helpful if you don't understand the nature
of the widget itself.



Léonie.


-- 
Léonie Watson Senior Accessibility Engineer, TPG.
@LeonieWatson @PacielloGroup

Received on Friday, 11 April 2014 10:01:00 UTC