[Bug 18385] Programmatic association of a page element to a 'description' text in a different uri

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=18385

--- Comment #25 from Léonie Watson <lwatson@paciellogroup.com> ---
(In reply to Devarshi Pant from comment #24)
> So, besides aria-describedat:
> 
> 1. would it justify using a new attribute to refer external content
> (description) at this point? 

No, I don't believe there is a good use case for introducing a new attribute or
extending the capability of @longdesc. To take the use cases you mentioned
originally...

1. Where the describedby text need not be visible on the same page.
5. When a superscript needs to be associated.

A link would seem to be a good way to accomplish this without any new HTML
attribute.

2. When an image needs a description.

@longdesc exists and is intended for this.

3. Link needs additional description.

If a link requires additional description, it is arguably not doing its job as
a signpost to a resource properly. The exception might be an extended image
description, but @longdesc is there for this.

4. Form control needs additional explanation.

If a form control requires additional explanation, sending someone to an
external resource is not good UX. Form state is often temporary (until the form
is submitted), so sending someone to an external resource would either require
that the form state be made persistent, that a new browser window/tab was
opened, or that a dialogue/lightbox widget was used. Keeping such additional
information in-line using aria-describedby is a better (and more universal)
option.

So in short, it seems that the ability to solve each of the use cases already
exists within the HTML and/or ARIA specs.

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Received on Wednesday, 17 June 2015 08:40:46 UTC