Re: Proposal: remove aria-describedat from the ARIA 1.1 specification


> On Nov 5, 2015, at 12:50, John Foliot <john.foliot@deque.com> wrote:
>
>
> The fact that <details>/<summary> can provide a similar function (once we get browser support) may be sufficient, although the native visual affordance is that this will provide a "drawer tab" like feature on the screen, where sighted users can "expand or collapse" the extended description.
>
> And then I understand that a Media Query/JavaScript device will be deployed to hide that "drawer tab" until such time as a user chooses (somehow, some way) to expose that tab?
>
Not quite - it would be media query/CSS rather than media query/JavaScript, and it would only be used in cases where hiding the visual affordance is considered necessary by the author. I think authors should be encouraged not to hide it at all, but if it’s a choice between hiding the functionality and omitting it, then hiding it is the best of the two bad options.

> Am I the only one here who reads this as finding a way to turn <details>/<summary>  into essentially a @longdesc function?

With a details element, you can include the optionally presented content (e.g., extended description) in the same document if you choose to do so. This may be possible if a fragment identifier can be used as the destination of longdesc, but I would have to check the extension specification to determine whether this is supported.

Details is not confined to use with images, and it has a visual interface (whereas longdesc, as implemented, doesn’t).

Web Components are the most flexible solution. They can, but need not, create a visual interface; they can also rely on user needs/preferences or the configuration of the Web application in which they are used.

There will never be “one true way” of providing extended descriptions. We have details/summary, the object element, longdesc, Web Components, SVG desc elements, the figcaption element, and possibly others that I’ve forgotten. This is a reality that won’t change.


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Received on Thursday, 5 November 2015 18:17:45 UTC