Re: ACTION-1561

Hi Rich,

Comments inline.

> The Accessibility API mapping team has been wrestling with cross 
> platform challenges around how to expose generic containers that have 
> no semantic meaning but which retain structure in the mapping of 
> accessible content.
>
> Here are the issues:
>
> 1. <div> are not mapped with consistent mappings across all platforms.
> Some platforms map a div to a group (Safari and IE) while others map 
> it to a panel (ATK-ATSPI) and others map it to a section (FF, Chrome).
>

The proper mapping for ATK/AT-SPI of <div> is ROLE_SECTION. The group 
role is mapped to ROLE_PANEL.  Which "others" are mapping <div> to a 
panel with respect to ATK/AT-SPI?

See also the html-aam:
http://rawgit.com/w3c/aria/master/html-aam/html-aam.html#el-div

>
> 2. MacOSX maps <div> and to axGroup while role="group" which has real 
> semantic meaning that the items mapped in the group have a real 
> association associated with each other such as a group of associated 
> text boxes. A div on its own has no semantic meaning other that to act 
> as a generic container of stuff.
>
> 3. When applying role to presentation we have different role mappings 
> based on the original structure of the content in HTML. For example, 
> Firefox maps table cells to roles of "textbox" where list items get 
> converted to paragraphs. ATK/ATSPI maps these to a PANEL role where 
> MacOSX maps these to axGroup
>

For reference, here is the FF bugzilla, where Joanie requested that FF 
treat presentation list items and cells as if they were <div>s.  That 
is, mapped to ROLE_SECTION:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1113153

>
> 4. HTML5 introduces a <section> element which maps to a region role 
> yet unless it actually has a label associated with it it really has 
> not semantic value. It really should be treated like a <div>
>

I don't believe the HTML5 spec for <section> requires a label; the 
terminology is " Each section should be identified, typically by 
including a heading".
http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/sections.html#the-section-element.

So, without a heading or other label, a <section> is mapped as if it was 
a <div>?  Okay.

> 5. SVG is now using role group for containers having alternative text. 
> Should these be sections or real groupings? This is a a concern. Again 
> I believe wer are oveloading group semantics.
>

It depends on the contents of the group.  If the children are a "... set 
of user interface objects ...", then it satisfies the definition of 
role="group".  If it's a just a container, then it's either a 
role="region" or something even more generic.  Are there any SVG examples?

>
> What we need is a consistent implementation that does not confuse a 
> generic section in the document with a semantic grouping and would fit 
> well with section in HTML5.
>
> One proposal:
>
> 1. Map <div> to a role of section on all platforms or a single generic 
> role on all platforms that says this is just an container and nothing more
>

What happens if the <div> has a label?  For example:  <div 
aria-label="My Cool Block of Stuff"> ... </div>?

> 2. When applying role="presentation" map the semantic HTML structural 
> alements to the role determined in 1
> 3. In HTML5 map <section> to the generic role in 1. and map it to 
> region when a label is applied to it.
> 4. Regarding 1. for a Mac either make the generic container a new 
> section role and leave axGroup for role="group" or make role="group" 
> map to something different than axGroup and leave axGroup generic.
>
>
> Rich Schwerdtfeger
>

-- 
;;;;joseph.

'Array(16).join("wat" - 1) + " Batman!"'
            - G. Bernhardt -

Received on Monday, 19 January 2015 17:11:36 UTC