- From: Steven Faulkner <faulkner.steve@gmail.com>
- Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:34:56 +0100
- To: Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com>
- Cc: public-html@w3.org, Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch>, Sam Ruby <rubys@intertwingly.net>
Hi maciej, > Why is interpretation of WAI-ARIA role taxonomy a relevant consideration for what roles should be allowed for <a>? the current change proposal is a part of a wider set of proposed changes to the current spec[1] being discussed publically in the html accessibility taskforce aria-mapping sub group. This is still under discussion and not yet agreed upon. When it is it will be brought to the HTML wg for further discussion. Note that anybody who is interested can be involved in the discussion in the a11y taskforce. We are attempting to provide a consistent approach to the restrictions that should be placed on role usage related to common characteristics of roles. We are using the arai role taxanomy as a guide as it indicates how roles are categorised. >So it seems that aspect of the proposal details is not justified by the rationale. This is correct and the proposal needs to be udpated to reflect your concerns. regards Stevef [1] http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/misc/HTML5/aria-html5-proposal.html On 16 June 2010 10:13, Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com> wrote: > > On Jun 16, 2010, at 2:04 AM, Steven Faulkner wrote: > >> Hi Maciej, >> >>> Is it at all common to use an <a> element as a radio button, slider, scrollbar or progress bar? I don't believe I have ever seen any of those in the wild. >> >> the choice of roles is not based on common usage its based on an >> interpretation of the WAI-ARIA role taxonomy. > > Why is interpretation of WAI-ARIA role taxonomy a relevant consideration for what roles should be allowed for <a>? The rationale for your Change Proposal does not cite "the role taxonomy says so" as an argument, rather it cites the fact that Web developers are already using <a> for some non-link purposes, and it gives specific examples. I don't see any examples there of <a> being used as a slider, scrollbar, progress bar or radio button. So it seems that aspect of the proposal details is not justified by the rationale. > > I can see a potential argument for <a role=button> based on the fact that <a> elements are often (mis)used as buttons, and disallowing it may lead authors to make their content less accessible instead of more semantically correct. But that reasoning does not apply to <a role=progressbar>. Since authors are not making that semantic error currently, there doesn't seem to be a practical benefit to allowing it. > > > > Regards, > Maciej > > -- with regards Steve Faulkner Technical Director - TPG Europe Director - Web Accessibility Tools Consortium www.paciellogroup.com | www.wat-c.org Web Accessibility Toolbar - http://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/wat-ie-about.html
Received on Wednesday, 16 June 2010 09:43:50 UTC