Why is aria-expanded invalid with a checkbox?

Oh wise ones.

I am working with a team that is implementing a form where checking a
check box expands a section further down the page.
They actually thought of putting aria-expanded and aria-controls on
the check box to communicate this info to assistive technologies.
I had to stop the because checkbox role is not one of the 40 or so
roles that allow the aria-expanded property.


I find this curious.
The situation I described, where sections of a dynamic form or webpage
are displayed or hidden in response to user checking or unchecking a
check box is quite common.
Sure, if the section of the page is, in content order, after the
checkbox that controls it, users do not necessarily need to be aware
of the change, but it is a very smart usability decision to inform the
user that checking a checkbox affects contents elsewhere on the
webpage.
My questions are:
1. Why was aria-expanded not considered a valid attribute with check boxes and,
2. Can this case be revisited? If so I'd be happy to create an issue
ticket if necessary.
Thanks
-Birkir


-- 
Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Senior Accessibility Subject Matter Expert | Deque Systems
2121 Cooperative Way, Suite 210
Herndon, VA, 20171

Ph: (919) 607-27 53
Twitter: @birkir_gun

Received on Tuesday, 2 February 2016 22:59:19 UTC