Re: H33 sufficient technique for 2.4.4?

On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 2:13 PM, Sailesh Panchang <spanchang02@yahoo.com>wrote:

>
> The How to meet WCAG2.0 states H33 as a sufficient technique for SC 2.4.4 -
> link purpose.
> "4. Providing a supplemental description of the purpose of a link using one
> of the following techniques:
> • H33: Supplementing link text with the title attribute"
>
> However the description for H33 does not support this. In fact one is
> cautioned against using this technique:
> "Because of the extensive user agent limitations in supporting access to
> the title attribute, authors should use caution in applying this technique.
> For this reason, it is preferred that the author use technique:
> C7: Using CSS to hide a portion of the link text  or
> H30: Providing link text that describes the purpose of a link for anchor
> elements ."
>
>
> The How To techniques doc needs to be amended to reflect this note of
> caution. H33 should be made an advisory technique.
> Thanks,
> Sailesh Panchang
> spanchang02@yahoo.com
> www.deque.com
>


================================
 Response from the Working Group
================================

Despite all its limitations, the working group feels it is important to
retain this technique for those situations where it does work. For instance,
screen readers will read the title text in cases where there is no link text
for the link but only a title attribute. This seems especially important for
authors who want to rely only on HTML, so they cannot rely on C17. We will
encourage user agents and assistive technology to provide better support for
this use of the title attribute.

Another example where this commonly occurs is with highly structured content
such as a blog or a content management system. In these situations, similar
links are often repeated with multiple similar "chunks" of content. For
example, a home page for a blog might include 15 posts, each with a series
of links related to the number of comments received and the categories under
which the entry was filed. Each entry might include a series of links like
"No comments," "1 comment" etc. where the title attribute says something
like, "Comment on {title of blog post}. 1 comment received." Additional
links that relate to the category the item is associated with might include
"General," "Work," "Family" where the title attribute says something like,
"Read all posts in the {category name} category."

We will be highlighting the technique's limitations by adding the following
Note to Understanding SC 2.4.4:

"Note: Because of the extensive user agent limitations in supporting access
to the title attribute, authors should use caution in applying this
technique. For this reason, it is preferred that the author use technique
C7: Using CSS to hide a portion of the link text  (CSS) or H30: Providing
link text that describes the purpose of a link for anchor elements (HTML) ."

Could you let us know by Monday, December 8 whether you are satisfied with
our resolutions? If that date is not possible, please reply to this message
indicating when you will be able to respond.

If we do not hear from you by Monday, December 8, we will assume that you
are satisfied with the responses to your comments.

Thanks again for the interest that you have taken in these guidelines.

Loretta Guarino Reid, WCAG WG Co-Chair
Gregg Vanderheiden, WCAG WG Co-Chair
Michael Cooper, WCAG WG Staff Contact


On behalf of the WCAG Working Group