Re: [math-on-web] a11y TF meeting minutes, 2017/04/10

As far as I understood roledescription, it is an extra piece of information that can be provided to qualify a specified role.  For example, if the role is “image" with roledescription “math", that means the image is actually math.

Regarding creating an alternative role for mathematics, I wonder what it could be.  To some people, a math expression looks like a picture.  So an image role seems fitting.  But to some people, a math expression is a syntax tree in disguise.  Would a role called tree be appropriate?  That sounds a bit complicated.

Kevin.

On Apr 13, 2017, at 5:18 AM, Daniel Marques <dani@wiris.com<mailto:dani@wiris.com>> wrote:

Hi everybody,

After reading the minutes, let me comment on some of the subjects.

Volker says that “some people are opposed to aria-labels”. This is consistent with the fact that AT reads the text and ignores the aria-labels. It is also connected with the idea that some people don’t like accessible specific content.

The role=math has its faults but does some of the job. I guess that it was a compromise reached time ago in order to use the aria-label (which seems to confirm what Volker said). If deprecated, an alternative should be provided. Maybe another role?

I do not understand the roledescription solution. Could someone rephrase it?

Dani

On 12 Apr 2017, at 18:58, Peter Krautzberger <peter.krautzberger@mathjax.org<mailto:peter.krautzberger@mathjax.org>> wrote:

Hi everyone,

below are the minutes from the a11y task force meeting this week.

Best,
Peter.

# math on web CG -- a11y TF

* Updates.
  * Peter: continued work on deep labels
    * more examples
    * more focused on SVG but should
    * more recordings by Thursday, expect to confirm the validity
    * one problem: tables mathJax svg vs commonthml
      * ARIA 1.1 table-related roles should help
  * Peter: also got an update from Jason Meryll
    * where he described their work
    * ACTION: ask Jason to make it public
      * then reference on website
  * Volker: from last CG meeting: hacked around with speech API
    * prosidy support via SSML in speech synthesis API
    * several tests
    * no SSML support
    * though VoiceOer had some specialized markup (see minutes)
    * working on next few examples
* Peter: role=math
  * not much feedback from CG outside of a11y TF - which may have been obvious
  * Volker: at w4a a11y hackathon, nobody even knew the role existed
  * Peter: fun fact: James Craig mentioned that the role was derived from image role (which makes sense given the time)
  * Peter: from MathJax end, we could delay until we get to working on turning deep labels into something for production
  * Peter: given Daniel's comments from last TF meeting, maybe the groups recommendation should be to deprecate role=math.
  * ACTION: ask CG for a recommendation
    * point out that there are features that would help but that role-math serves no purpose
* Volker: some people are opposed to aria-labels
* Peter: new roles in ARIA 1.1
  * e.g., table related roles
  * e.g., roledescription
    * Kevin: could be used to specify role='Math'
      * Peter: right, argument to say that role is no longer necessary
        * but also reversely: role='math' with roledescription='physisc' could argue "against" Daniel's concern.
* Volker: will post some examples