[Bug 18745] Reword text adopted by ISSUE-204 to avoid certain implications

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=18745

--- Comment #1 from John Foliot <john@foliot.ca> 2012-08-30 19:23:30 UTC ---
I suspect that part of the problem is that some people use "Assistive
Technology" and Screen Readers interchangeably, which is a problem.  There are
many Assistive Technologies that are used by sighted or partially sighted users
that may also avail themselves to ARIA properties (the latest version of
ZoomText comes to mind, which is both a screen magnifier and a screen reader). 

If this techniques is intended for screen readers only, then it should clearly
state so, and avoid adding confusion by referencing Assistive Technology. 

> > User Agents are encouraged to expose the full semantics of hidden
> > elements to Assistive Technology when such elements are referenced
> > from WAI-ARIA attributes such as aria-describedby.
>
> It's come to my attention that some have interpreted this statement to
> mean that UAs should include hidden="" elements in the ordinary
> accessibility tree when they happen to be so referenced. Were this true,
> it would be potentially harmful because users might navigate into that
> part of the ax tree.

But is that not a given when you speak of "Full Semantics"? If you are instead
envisioning some partial, specific semantics, then say so as well.  If
@aria-describedby is pointing to an @hidden ordered list of links (completely
legitimate and possible with this current change), then of course a tool such
as ZoomText needs to navigate into that part of the ax tree, and further it
needs to be rendered visually on screen.

> We should try to reword this so that such an interpretation is
> impossible for people to draw from the statement.

I look forward to seeing how this might look (outside of the fact that the
entire Issue 204 decision currently has 2 Formal Objections filed against it).

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Received on Thursday, 30 August 2012 19:23:32 UTC