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

>However, I have not yet heard of a use case where the meaning was not synonymous with "displayed".

To me, aria-displayed to easily implies a connection with visibility, which would be confusing.

For example, if you have a date picker, and need to indicate the current date as being 'current', it is simply the current date, and has no connection with visibility because all of the dates on the calendar for that month are displayed.

From: Matthew King [mailto:mattking@us.ibm.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2014 10:58 AM
To: Joseph Scheuhammer; public-pfwg@w3.org
Subject: Re: ACTION-1442: Draft spec text for aria-current and aria-currentfor

After further work and thought, I am still questioning the name.
Couldn't we create greater clarity and understanding by calling this aria-displayed?

1. When it comes to screen reader users, if I heard "displayed", I think I would more easily figure out what it means.

2. When it comes to authors, I would think it would be much easier to understand the difference between displayed and selected vs current and selected.

3. I also would not be surprised if "displayed" resulted in more accurate translations by vendors of non-english screen readers.

I understand there is apossibility it would more narrowly scope its application, but that could be a really good thing when it comes to creating clarity. However, I have not yet heard of a use case where the meaning was not synonomous with "displayed".

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<mailto:mattking@us.ibm.com>



From:        Matthew King/Fishkill/IBM@IBMUS
To:        Joseph Scheuhammer <clown@alum.mit.edu<mailto:clown@alum.mit.edu>>,
Cc:        public-pfwg@w3.org<mailto:public-pfwg@w3.org>
Date:        11/19/2014 10:22 AM
Subject:        Re: ACTION-1442: Draft spec text for aria-current and aria-currentfor
________________________________



Revisions to yesterday's proposal:

1. Clarified that false and undefined are equivalent and false is the default.

2. Clarified that UA should not expose and AT should not convey false or undefined.

In the following text, phrases in square brackets are intended to be links.

Aria-current attribute

Indicates an element represents the current item within a container or set of related elements.

The aria-current attribute indicates whether an element represents what is current (true), or not current (false). If the aria-current attribute is false or undefined, User Agents SHOULD NOT expose the aria-current state of an element, and assistive technologies SHOULD NOT convey it.

The aria-current attribute is used when one of the elements in a set of related elements has a visual style different from other members in the set to indicate that the element identifies what is current. For example, it can be used to indicate which [link] in a set of [navigation] links is visually styled to indicate that it is the link for the currently displayed page. Similarly, it can be used to indicate which step in a [list] of wizard steps is visually styled to inform the user that the currently displayed wizard content is for that step.

Note:
When applied to an element contained in a widget that supports selection, the meaning of aria-current is different from the meaning of [aria-selected]. Authors should not use aria-current in lieu of aria-selected and should avoid using aria-current in circumstances where the meaning of aria-current would be the same as aria-selected. For example, in a single-select [tablist] where the selected [tab] element corresponds to the displayed tabpanel, aria-current is unnecessary. However, if the selected state of a tab is used to indicate which tab is selected for an action, such as move, delete, or display (make current), then aria-current should be used to indicate which tab represents the currently displayed tabpanel. Examples that further explain how to use aria-current and aria-selected are available in the [WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices].

Characteristics of aria-current

Used in roles: All elements of the base markup.

Value: true/false

Values of aria-current

true: The element is current.
false (default): The element is not current

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<mailto:mattking@us.ibm.com>



From:        Joseph Scheuhammer <clown@alum.mit.edu<mailto:clown@alum.mit.edu>>
To:        Matthew King/Fishkill/IBM@IBMUS, Joseph Scheuhammer <clown@alum.mit.edu<mailto:clown@alum.mit.edu>>,
Cc:        public-pfwg@w3.org<mailto:public-pfwg@w3.org>
Date:        11/19/2014 09:58 AM
Subject:        Re: ACTION-1442: Draft spec text for aria-current and aria-currentfor
________________________________



Léonie, Matt,

Thanks for your clarifications.

> So, what is the best way to write the text so the undefine/false
> equivalency is clear?

For the "Values" table, how about:

"false (default):  The element is not current.
true: The element is current."

I'm following the style of the value tables for other boolean aria-*
attributes. For example, see the table for aria-disabled
(http://rawgit.com/w3c/aria/master/aria/aria.html#aria-disabled).

Similarly, for the "Value" entry in the "Characteristics" table:

"Value: true/false"

Also, given that "conveyed by User Agents" has to do with the
accessibility API, I suggest this re-wording:

"If the aria-current attribute is false or undefined, User Agents SHOULD
NOT expose the aria-current state of an element, and assistive
technologies SHOULD NOT convey it."

Hope that helps.

--
;;;;joseph.

'Array(16).join("wat" - 1) + " Batman!"'
          - G. Bernhardt -