Re: why are we pursuing this idea? (was: Implementation Details request on Issue 204 Decision)

On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 12:17 AM, Leif Halvard Silli
<xn--mlform-iua@xn--mlform-iua.no> wrote:
> Heh! That was in fact cool to hear. So all NVDA is lacking is the
> announcement! Authors could in fact create polyfills for the
> announcement, e.g. via aria-label or aria-labelledby, so that user can
> use it.

They could, but not without adversely impacting usability in UA/AT
combinations that already notify users about longdesc (e.g. Firefox +
JAWS).

>>> * He also says that 'If we do implement this, it will only be as a
>>> temporary solution because of the lack of support in current accessible
>>> browsers'. This is a technical argument. But it sounds like a incorrect
>>> technical argument. At least today - 2 years later - where we hear that
>>> Firefox *does* support @longdesc, in the accessibility API - which I
>>> assume that NVDA would use.
>>
>> I think by support James means "discoverable to *all* users, not just
>> users of assistive technology". So just having a hook in the
>> accessibility API doesn't count.
>
> Yes. But the world is not going to move if we are all waiting on each
> others.

James may feel that @longdesc is not going to be worth discovering or
providing if it's not universally discoverable.

I doubt Firefox is waiting on NVDA here; after all JAWS was exposing
@longdesc long before NVDA.

--
Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis

Received on Tuesday, 21 August 2012 23:22:30 UTC