RE: ACTION-1442: Draft spec text for aria-current and aria-currentfor

Bryan wrote:
> For example, aria-current is supposed to handle all of those corner 
> cases where grouped elements can either be current or not current, 
> but this is deliberately vague so it can apply to any scenario where
> this is needed. As a result, you may have objects that can be 
> current or not current interspersed amongst elements that are simply
> there for support like help links, or other element types, all 
> within the same container.

I think we have different understandings and that the problem we are 
solving is much simpler. Does it really matter what else is in the 
container? Does it even matter what the container is?

The problem is simple ... there is very often a visual indication of what 
the current item is in a set. This state is different from selection, 
different from checked, etc. There is only a need to communicate the item 
that is current. There is no need to communicate what other items could be 
current but are not. That would be information overload.

Matt King
IBM Senior Technical Staff Member
I/T Chief Accessibility Strategist
IBM BT/CIO - Global Workforce and Web Process Enablement 
Phone: (503) 578-2329, Tie line: 731-7398
mattking@us.ibm.com



From:   Bryan Garaventa <bryan.garaventa@ssbbartgroup.com>
To:     Matthew King/Fishkill/IBM@IBMUS, 
Cc:     "LWatson@PacielloGroup.com" <LWatson@PacielloGroup.com>, 
"public-pfwg@w3.org" <public-pfwg@w3.org>
Date:   11/06/2014 01:53 PM
Subject:        RE: ACTION-1442: Draft spec text for aria-current and 
aria-currentfor



I get what you are saying, but how are you supposed to know which elements 
are part of the same group?
 
For example, aria-current is supposed to handle all of those corner cases 
where grouped elements can either be current or not current, but this is 
deliberately vague so it can apply to any scenario where this is needed. 
As a result, you may have objects that can be current or not current 
interspersed amongst elements that are simply there for support like help 
links, or other element types, all within the same container.
 
So, if nothing is conveyed to indicate which elements are explicitly 
marked up with the aria-current attribute, how do you know which is which?
 
 
 
From: Matthew King [mailto:mattking@us.ibm.com] 
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2014 1:37 PM
To: Bryan Garaventa
Cc: LWatson@PacielloGroup.com; public-pfwg@w3.org
Subject: RE: ACTION-1442: Draft spec text for aria-current and 
aria-currentfor
 
Bryan, 

> “The aria-current attribute indicates whether the element is current 
(true), or not current (false). 
> If the aria-current attribute is undefined, the current state of the 
element should not be conveyed by User Agents.” 
  
This would imply UA would convey "not current" when it is false. I think 
we do not want that. I assume that is the rationale behind Leonie's 
wording. 

Reality is that we do not even need a value. False and undefined should be 
treated the same. Just including aria-current with no ="value" is good 
enough. While this would line up with HTML5, it would be a departure from 
the rest of ARIA.

Matt King
IBM Senior Technical Staff Member
I/T Chief Accessibility Strategist
IBM BT/CIO - Global Workforce and Web Process Enablement 
Phone: (503) 578-2329, Tie line: 731-7398
mattking@us.ibm.com 



From:        Bryan Garaventa <bryan.garaventa@ssbbartgroup.com> 
To:        "LWatson@PacielloGroup.com" <LWatson@PacielloGroup.com>, "
public-pfwg@w3.org" <public-pfwg@w3.org>, 
Date:        11/06/2014 01:12 PM 
Subject:        RE: ACTION-1442: Draft spec text for aria-current and 
aria-currentfor 




Looks good to me, however the following is unclear: 
  
“The aria-current attribute indicates whether the element is current 
(true), or not current (false). If the aria-current attribute is false, 
the current state of the element should not be conveyed by User Agents.” 
  
This implies two functions for false, which seems to state that false 
should be conveyed as ‘not current’ as well as ignored by user agents at 
the same time. Since the value of false should be different from 
undefined, the following is clearer: 
  
“The aria-current attribute indicates whether the element is current 
(true), or not current (false). If the aria-current attribute is 
undefined, the current state of the element should not be conveyed by User 
Agents.” 
  
  
From: Léonie Watson [mailto:LWatson@PacielloGroup.com] 
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2014 10:36 AM
To: public-pfwg@w3.org
Subject: ACTION-1442: Draft spec text for aria-current and aria-currentfor 

  
Comments welcome… 
  
1.       Aria-current attribute 
  
Indicates the element that represents the current item with a navigation 
container in its ancestry. 
  
The aria-current attribute indicates whether the element is current 
(true), or not current (false). If the aria-current attribute is false, 
the current state of the element should not be conveyed by User Agents. 
  
For example the aria-current attribute may be used to indicate the current 
document in a collection or the current step in a process. 
  
Note 
The aria-current attribute is similar to the aria-selected attribute, but 
there are important differences. the aria-selected attribute indicates the 
selected state of children within certain widgets, whilst the aria-current 
attribute indicates the current element within the scope of a container. 
  
Characteristics of aria-current 
Used in roles: : button, link, listitem, img. 
Value: true/false/undefined 
  
Values of aria-current 
true: The element is current 
false: The element is not current 
undefined: The element cannot be current 
  
2.       Aria-currentfor attribute 
  
Identifies the element that is the container for an element with 
aria-current. 
  
For example the aria-currentfor attribute may be used to indicate the 
containing grid of a calendar widget, where the current date is indicated 
with aria-current. 
  
Characteristics of aria-currentfor 
Used in roles: : All elements of the base markup 
Value: ID reference 
  
-- 
Senior Accessibility Engineer, TPG 
@LeonieWatson @PacielloGroup