RE: Landmarks and labels

Hi

I have a very limited set of recommendations for labeling landmarks, then
usually using aria-label:
- main (I find it confusing to name the main landmark, there should only be
one in each web document).
- banner ditto
- contentinfo ditto
- complementary - I haven't come across those often, usually there is only
one, or they are nested in an article, in which case they don't really need
a label. 
- search
The search landmark is often superfluous and clutters up the non-visual UI,
because on most websites the search functionality is limited to an input
field and a button.
But if the website had internet search and site search presented as two
separate search widgets, I would recommend using the search landmark with
aria-label or aria-labelledby.
In most cases I would not expect a visible heading to be present, but I
recommend aria-labelledby when it is.

The form element is often associated with headings on a page, and a page can
have multiple forms. I need to apply the form role to the form element in
order for ARIA labeling to be announced by screen readers.

The primary use cases I have found for labeling ARIA landmarks are regions
and navigation landmarks.
Navigation landmarks generally do not start with a heading, so aria-label is
necessary.
Regions come in many shapes and sizes, and when they start with a heading I
use aria-labelledby to associate the heading with the region role.
That's my quarter (I don't carry 2 cents on me any more).

-----Original Message-----
From: Léonie Watson [mailto:tink@tink.uk] 
Sent: Monday, February 29, 2016 4:50 PM
To: public-aria@w3.org
Subject: Landmarks and labels

Hello,

On the APG call today we discussed techniques for providing labels for
multiple instances of the same landmark within a document. We touched on the
potential repetition problem, caused when a heading is associated with a
landmark region using aria-labelledby, and where the heading includes the
name of the landmark region. For example:

<div id="search" role="search" aria-labelledby="searchLabel">
<h2 id="searchLabel">Site search</h2>
...
</div>

The problem being that the word "search " would then be repeated by screen
readers ("Site search search region" is how Jaws would announce it for
example).

The thing is that I'm struggling to think of an example where the heading
wouldn't duplicate the name of the landmark. If the purpose of the heading
is to preface the content within that section, it sort of has to mention
what that content is/does, doesn't it?

For example the heading "Site" would not make sense visually (for the above
example), unless the word "search" was included also would it?

I'm thinking out loud here, so feel free to shoot this down with some cases
where the heading wouldn't need to include the landmark role! Thanks.

Léonie.

Received on Monday, 29 February 2016 23:40:38 UTC