Re: Rationale for aria-errormessage

I suspect we are getting too far into screen reader specifics here.
But the problem with Jaws is that the global "advanced" user setting
turns off the announcement of aria-describedby content altogether.

As users get familiar with a certain website or application, they may
want to turn off aria-describedby announcements to reduce verbosity.
But they should only be able to do so for that particular website
(Jaws offers website based custom configuration as well).

The global "advanced" setting in Jaws should only turn off
announcements originating within the screen reader itself, not help
information provided by webpage authors.

No matter how skilled the screen reader user is, he may still need the
additional info provided by aria-describedby on unfamiliar webpages.

No screen reader should enable users to turn aria-describedby
announcements off in a global configuration.

It is not our job to dictate how screen readers treat ARIA, but it is
certainly something to keep in mind as we move the standard forward.
-Birkir


On 7/27/16, Sailesh Panchang <sailesh.panchang@deque.com> wrote:
> OK, distinguishing aria-describedby text by a delay or a different
> pitch is conveying visual presentation via  another method and  is an
> accessibility matter. But the delay should be user configurable.
> And unless one is using a static  page or an application that seldom
> has any changes / updates made a user will be taking great risk in
> choosing to turn off some authored-content that has a particular  kind
> of markup.
>
> BTW as a user, I do not review how content is marked up in terms of
> attributes, properties etc.  ... I am focussed on consuming the
> information or performing a task on the page so long as it works with
> AT. But maybe I am in the minority  as users go.
> Perhaps one should re-read  the messages above if one cannot discern
> the risks or visualize the impracticality of the assumptions made.
> With two attributes that essentially do the same thing I am not sure
> how one can assume that all developers around the world will  use them
> as a few individuals wish.
> Choosing to ignore risks  noted above because it is not practical at
> this late stage is myopic and does not make the risks dubious.
> Best regards,
> Sailesh
>
>


-- 
Birkir Gunnarsson, CPACC
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 Friday, 29 July 2016 18:02:21 UTC