Re: RFC: Use of xml-roles object attribute for MathML without ARIA


> On Jul 14, 2015, at 04:42, Joanmarie Diggs <jdiggs@igalia.com> wrote:
>
> As you know, there is no ARIA MathML module (at least not yet; I'm
> starting to think perhaps we should have one). There is, however, a need
> to improve exposure of MathML elements and their roles. One proposed way
> to do this is via xml-roles. See this Mozilla bug:
> https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1177765.

>
> I haven't yet decided how I myself feel about this. On the one hand, why
> create a functionally-equivalent new object attribute? On the other
> hand, at least in my mind, xml-roles was the place to find the ARIA
> role, and the possible values for xml-roles was defined by the ARIA
> specification. What is proposed in the Mozilla bug perhaps is setting a
> precedent that it's ok to expand the possible values into items not in
> any specification.

What we need, I think, is an accessibility API mapping for MathML. I’m not convinced that we need ARIA roles, since the semantics are conveyed in the MathML elements themselves - even in presentation MathML.

If I understand the above and the Mozilla bug report correctly (as well as the Mozilla code that I’ve looked at), xml-roles specify the exact ARIA role, even if the role declared in the platform accessibility API is different. The better solution would be to add appropriate roles to the platforms, but in the absence of that, it seems reasonable to use such a mechanism in the interim. However, I would still prefer agreement to be reached on the role names themselves, as well as an understanding that they are implicit in the MathML semantics and generally should not be explicitly included in a role content attribute.


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Received on Thursday, 16 July 2015 19:17:30 UTC