ACTION RESPONSE: Review list separators WHATWG issue #322

Dear colleagues,

I have performed an initial review of the issue filed at the following URL: https://github.com/whatwg/html/issues/9126


My immediate thoughts are that the inclusion of the <hr> element into list elements would not pose any challenges from an accessibility perspective (eventually). Given the manual testing that was completed by Scott, implementation may be inconsistent but could improve if the pattern is standardized.

My only initial concern is whether it is better practice to—in a situation like Scott outlines—have the information contained within nested lists since this is the content structure. If <hr> is included in the list semantics, I would imagine the screen reader announcing the entire list as opposed to two or three separate smaller lists, which is what the author is intending by using separators. In sum, can this content be successfully conveyed as smaller lists if the <hr> element is detected within a list by a screen reader? Maybe not now, but perhaps in future.

Further review is welcome.

Best,
--Mike