RE: ARIA and DUAL purpose elements

From: Birkir Gunnarsson [mailto:birkir.gunnarsson@deque.com]
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2016 12:46 PM

Technically, when you map such an element to a menuitem or treeitem, the user should be able to activate it with an enter key but open the submenu using the arrow keys.
But the user would not know the difference between a typical menuitem that, if you press enter, opens a submenu, and a menuitem that, when activated with enter, navigates user to a different page.


For ARIA 1.1, consider using aria-roledescription to inform the user of the dual function of the element with the menuitem role.


It seems to me that menuitem is the correct role and that all you need is to qualify or clarify it to the user by indicating the presence of the second function (in this instance the link).

It could be argued, as you do, that an additional property would be desirable, but I also agree with you that it's an ARIA 2.0 issue. As I understand it, control patterns as used by Microsoft and as have been suggested for inclusion in a future version of ARIA or a Web-based accessibility API, would allow you to express both the linking action and the submenu activation action. ATK/AT-SPI can also do this, as it supports the notion of a secondary action distinct from the primary action, if my memory is correct.


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