Re: Agenda: August 27, 2015 WAI-PF ARIA Caucus (Correction I am still chairing this week)

> *Agenda: August 27, 2015 WAI-PF ARIA Caucus*

Partial regrets:  I will be getting into the office later than usual and 
will be late for the meeting.  There's a chance that I'll miss it entirely.

> 3. Issue 736 aria-label overriding listitem and treeitem content as 
> containers (discuss removal of name required)
>
>   * _https://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/Group/track/issues/736_
>

Some points:

1. Both listitem and treeitem roles require an accessible name, meaning 
the browser will *always* compute and assign a name for a listitem.
2. Both roles allow name-from-contents and name-from-author.
3. Sometimes a listitem is just a container of structured text, like a 
paragraph, and not like a widget.  In other cases, a listitem is like a 
widget.  It depends on how the author set things up.
4. Contrary to issue 736's title, aria-label is *not* overriding 
listitem and treeitem content.  The content is present in the 
accessibility tree as children of the item.

Points 1 and 2 lead to the browser creating a name from the item's 
contents when the author has not provided one.  If the listitem nests 
other listitems within it, as with a list of lists, then the name is 
very long and unwieldy.  Similarly for treeitems.  This is a case where 
authors *should* provide a shorter label for a listitem or treeitem, 
using aria-label.

Regarding 3, when a listitem is just a text container like a paragraph, 
then it likely doesn't need a name, although I'm not entirely certain.  
There must be a reason why the accessible name requirement was added to 
the listitem role, but I have been unable for find that rationale, aside 
from when the item is like a widget. Since a listitem is sometimes just 
a container of text, there doesn't always need to be a name.  The spec 
should be adjusted to state that:  an accessible name is required for a 
listitem only when it is a widget.

-- 
;;;;joseph.

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

Received on Wednesday, 26 August 2015 15:32:11 UTC