RE: 4.2.7.2 of http://w3c.github.io/aria/practices/aria-practices.html

I agree, this is a vast oversimplification of what role=application actually does, which is actually better when confined to small individual widgets that need to manage focus reliably across ATs; thus being contradicted by this verbiage.




Bryan Garaventa
Accessibility Fellow
SSB BART Group, Inc.
bryan.garaventa@ssbbartgroup.com
415.624.2709 (o)
www.SSBBartGroup.com

From: Joe Stephen [mailto:JStephen@vfo-group.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2016 11:18 PM
To: public-aria@w3.org
Cc: Nataliya Ivanova <NIvanova@vfo-group.com>
Subject: 4.2.7.2 of http://w3c.github.io/aria/practices/aria-practices.html

Hello Committee,

The following statement is very misleading and may have lead to the overuse of application mode on some pages:

* If when your page loads and you should have  focus on a widget this is a strong indicator that your Web page should have role of
application.

This should be rewritten to convey the view that application mode should be reserved for situations in which there are several widgets related to each other that form part or all of a web page:

* If when your page loads and you should have  focus on a widget, and that widget is one of several forming a conceptually related application, and if you want to convey a similar user experience to a standard desktop application, where the user does not need to read virtual content on the page, this is a strong indicator that your Web page should have role of
application.

Do not use application mode on a single widget on a page where the rest of the page should be read as a virtual document.

I know I haven't conveyed this perfectly either, but the existing statement is clearly misleading and may result in the gross overuse of this role. By this logic, even a single edit field on a page which must gain focus on page load, would cause the web author to consider using this role as this guideline stands.

Joseph Stephen
VFO | Software Developer
11800 31st Court North, St. Petersburg, FL 33716
T +61 416090232
jstephen@vfo-group.com<mailto:jstephen@vfo-group.com>
www.vfo-group.com<http://www.vfo-group.com>

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