Re: Response to: ChangeProposals/DeprecateLongdesc

On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 1:20 AM, John Foliot <jfoliot@stanford.edu> wrote:
> Silvia Pfeiffer wrote
>> It would almost be better if we just had
>> one mechanism to provide long descriptions (whichever of the two)
>> and
>> then a browser preference to set whether you want the browser to push
>> the information at you (in the case of @longdesc that would mean:
>> downloading the URL and starting to read it out) or pulling the
>> information (in the case of @aria-describedby that would mean: waiting
>> for a user interaction to read the referenced section(s)).
>
> I think you mean the inverse: @longdesc is the pull (on demand) whilst
> aria-describedby is the push (download and start reading).

I actually meant what I wrote: I was blue-sky thinking about how easy
it would be to introduce the push-model of @aria-describedby to be
applied to @longdesc and equally how easy it would be to introduce the
pull-model of @longdesc to @aria-describedby.


> Aria-describedby is a more general purpose means of providing an
> accessible description to the Accessibility APIs, and ideally that happens
> "automatically" - the push model you have described. For example, that
> functionality is critical if aria-describedby were to be used like this:
>
> <fieldset>
>  <legend>Search this site</legend>
>    <p id="instructions">Searching for Rainbows or Unicorns will cause
> this website to explode!</p>
>
>    <label for="search">Search</label>
>      <input type="text" id="Search" autofocus
> aria-describedby="instructions"/>
>      <input type="submit" name="search" value="Go">
> </fieldset>

In the WAI CG Consensus Recommendations on Text alternatives in HTML 5
http://www.w3.org/2009/06/Text-Alternatives-in-HTML5.html
aria-describedby is listed as an attribute for providing long descriptions.

Is the example that you are providing here really one of providing a
long description? Wouldn't this be better solved with using
@aria-labelledby?


Cheers,
Silvia.

Received on Thursday, 25 August 2011 02:02:01 UTC