[Bug 21894] Do not define @longdesc as a hyperlink. Instead, define it as a link analogous to @cite.

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=21894

--- Comment #7 from Charles McCathieNevile <chaals@yandex-team.ru> ---
(In reply to comment #6)
> (In reply to comment #5)
> 
> > which is what I would expect and hope user agents do with the URL contained
> > in the longdesc attribute.
> 
> To say that user agents should treat longdesc "*like* a hyperlink", and
> define how far that alikening goes, should be OK. In fact, something like
> that was what I suggested in comment #4. 
> 
> However, the word 'hyperlink' has *surprisingly* many connotations with
> regard to user experience. E.g. we don’t expect anchor element links to be
> treated in 'special ways' when it comes to what happens when users activate
> them. By contrast, users have much less control on how to open longdesc URLs
> (in part because because it is supposed to be avaible also when img is child
> of an <a>) and on what happens when one does open them (one cannot control
> whether it opens in same tab/window or in another tab/window) - all this
> seem to be much more rigid for longdesc compared to hyperlinks.

Actually, some links are hard to control in most implementations, such as when
they are typed as download. Thia is an implementation question that I think the
spec properly does not seek to constrain.

> Perhaps the current text could be changed to this:
> 
> ]]
> The URL MUST point to a description of the image that its parent img element
> represents. User agents are expected to allow longdesc URLs to be followed
> in a fashion similar to how they <a
> href="HTML5spec/links.html#following-hyperlinks">follow hyperlinks</a>, but
> with the restriction that the interface to follow the link MUST be
> acccessible also in case the IMG is child of an anchor element.
> 
> <p class="note">
> The longdesc attribute does not turn the img into interactive content, per
> HTML5’s definition, and an img with the longdesc attribute set is thus
> permitted to be the child of an <a> element.</p>
> 
> <p class="note">It is common, but not required, that the user interface to
> follow the longdesc URL is one that works whether the img is or isn’t a
> child of a hyperlnk.</p>

That would conflict with the above statement and the requirement to be able to
use the thing when the img is a child of a link.

> <p class="note">It is quite common, but not required, that the longdesc URL
> opens in a browsing context (typically tab or window) that is parallel to
> the current browsing context.</p>

I don't see why this should be there. It doesn't add anything...

> [[
> 
> (In fact, it surprises me to discover that section 3.0.3 on User Agents
> currently says nothing about access to longdesc when img is child of an
> anchor element ....)

Nor when it is a child or not of any other element. It requires that the user
can get the description, and that accessibility APIs can.

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Received on Wednesday, 22 May 2013 22:34:18 UTC