code samples for extended description

At the ARIA WG meeting on 17 December [1] we talked about using existing HTML elements for extended descriptions. I offered to put together some code samples so that we have concrete examples to look at. Both authors of descriptions and AT developers were having some trouble wrapping their minds around next steps.

These samples [2] illustrate the use of <div>, links, and <details>/ <summary> for extended descriptions.  These examples are images, but we know that whatever our solution is, it must support more than just images. (Note that these are not that different from James Craig's website [3].)

One of the issues that we have not fully resolved is that, especially when using <details> and <summary>, there is nothing to indicate to users that the content is a description. We have talked about adding an attribute to ARIA or HTML.  How does a user know that she is looking at a description of a video as opposed to video metadata?

Does this meet the requirements of the extended description analysis [4]?

Thanks to Shane and Liam for feedback.

[1]  http://www.w3.org/2015/12/17-aria-minutes.html#ActionSummary
[2] https://github.com/TzviyaSiegman/describedby
[3] http://cookiecrook.com/longdesc/
[4] http://www.w3.org/2015/08/extended-description-analysis.html


Tzviya Siegman
Digital Book Standards & Capabilities Lead
Wiley
201-748-6884
tsiegman@wiley.com<mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com>