Re: feedback on 4.10.4.2.8 The pattern attribute

On Thu, 9 Apr 2009, Steven Faulkner wrote:
>
> feedback on 4.10.4.2.8 The pattern attribute
> 
> "When an input element has a pattern attribute specified, authors should 
> include a title attribute to give a description of the pattern. User 
> agents may use the contents of this attribute, if it is present, when 
> informing the user that the pattern is not matched, or at any other 
> suitable time, such as in a tooltip or read out by assistive technology 
> when the control gains focus."
> 
> This behaviour is not implemented in AT. The announcement of the title 
> attribute content is dependent on a range of factors including whether 
> the input an associated label and how the user has configured thier AT.
> 
> "When a control has a pattern attribute, the title attribute, if used, 
> must describe the pattern. Additional information could also be 
> included, so long as it assists the user in filling in the control. 
> Otherwise, assistive technology would be impaired."
> 
> It is suggested that assistive technology users will be be impaired by 
> this author conformance requirement, as it does not reflect implemented 
> behaviour.
>
> This requirement implicitly recommends the use of the title attribute to 
> provide error advice, this information would not be accessible to 
> keyboard only users as no browsers implement title attribute display via 
> the keyboard.
> 
> It is therefore suggested that the author conformance requirements and 
> references to AT be removed or replaced with advice that makes sense in 
> terms of AT behaviour.

That the value here is not shown currently is in fact a positive; the idea 
here is that the value would be shown in a message to the user only after 
the control fails validation.

Indeed, lack of support from ATs at this point isn't a problem, since the 
ATs similarly don't support the pattern="" attribute as well -- when they 
support the latter, they can add support for the former at the same time.


On Wed, 15 Apr 2009, Steven Faulkner wrote:
> 
> i suggest providing the information in text, as content of the input's 
> associated label element.

I agree that this would be good too, but the use case here is providing 
text that will be shown to the user when performing validation.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
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