Re: 48-Hour Consensus Call: InstateLongdesc CP Update

Silvia Pfeiffer wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 8:26 AM, John Foliot<john@foliot.ca>  wrote:
>> Joshue O Connor wrote:
>>> I think we need to step back further John. We need to work out what it
>>> should be before we ask any vendor to implement a solution. They will
>>> certainly support some form of long descriptor if it is present in the
>>> spec.
>> If that were only true Josh.  We've had a "solution" for this issue for over
>> a decade in the previous Specification, and have not seen any implementation
>> in browsers worth noting. Instead I sadly note that many engineers at the
>> various browser vendors want to instead obsolete a solution they've never
>> even tried to implement, and yet have not come forward with anything to
>> replace it.
>
> The thing is: if you read the HTML4 spec, there really is nothing
> stated about how the UA is supposed to expose it.
> http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/objects.html#h-13.2
[...]
>
> This paragraph creates a problem without solving it. It states that
> the UA should expose a longdesc link differently when on an img than
> when on an a. But there is no hint as to how that can be done.
[...]

> If we re-introduce it into HTML5, we need to be quite clear about how
> this has to be implemented. Otherwise we will fall into the same trap
> again.

To be frank Sylvia, in my experience, the previous editor of the HTML5 
spec was rather ambivalent/ambiguous about where and when the spec 
would/should define the user experience. There are parts of the spec 
where this is defined in a granular way, and then other parts where Ian 
would openly say "We should not define the user experience".

Note, this was usually when talking about a11y, and when he may not have 
fully understood the implications of that mantra. So do you think that 
the HTML5 spec should clearly define the user experience of its a11y 
related elements?

Would it help you if we did try to define it more clearly?

It would be great if so, as it makes this whole conversation more practical.

HTH

Josh

Received on Tuesday, 18 September 2012 06:49:45 UTC