I don't expect we (Mozilla) will stop using the title attribute value as a
last resort in attempting to provide an accessible name, that would regress
accessibility.
My opinion.
Cheers,
David
On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 6:54 AM, Steve Faulkner <faulkner.steve@gmail.com>wrote:
> Hi Adrian, Maciej, Anne and David
> (note: if there is a more approriate implementor representative this
> email should go to please advise)
>
> Your feedback on this would be appreciated.
>
> The title attribute as implemented (in all browsers that implement
> accessibility support) is mapped to the accessible name in all
> accessibility APIs in all browsers (that implement mapping), so in the
> absence of other labelling mechanisms, all HTML form controls are
> labelled by the title attribute content if present. The same goes for
> most other HTML elements. This reality is not reflected in the usage
> advice in the spec.
>
> There is a WCAG technique that documents how to use the title
> attribute to label controls: H65: Using the title attribute to
> identify form controls when the label element cannot be used
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/H65
>
> There is another WCAG 2.0 technique that documents how to use the
> title attribute to identify frame and iframe elements
> H64: Using the title attribute of the frame and iframe elements
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG-TECHS/H64.html
>
> The HTML5 specification does not provide any advice on how the title
> attribute content is used (as detailed above).
> I filed a bug https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=14740
>
> the rationale provided by the HTML5 editor for its rejection:
>
> "Rationale: If browsers map it in a manner inconsistent with its meaning,
> that
> should be fixed."
>
> Do any implementors have any plans to change the current
> implementation in browsers to match the HTML5 specification meaning?
>
> i.e. are there any plans to stop mapping the title attribute to the
> accessible name in accessibility APIs? So that it does not provide a
> label for controls and other elements?
>
>
> with regards
> Stevef
>
>