ARIA APG - Vanilla JavaScript

Hello,

 

There has been some discussion about whether we should use jQuery or vanilla
JavaScript for the APG 1.1 examples. On the TF call of 2nd February it was
decided we should use jQuery, however neither of the draft examples we have
so far use a JavaScript library at all.

 

This seems like a good opportunity to revisit the discussion. TLDR: I think
there’s a good case to be made for using vanilla JavaScript and not a
JavaScript library for the APG examples.

 

jQuery (and other JavaScript libraries) have two main purposes:

 

1.       Fix cross-browser JavaScript inconsistencies.

2.       Provide easy access to features that are complicated to write in
JavaScript.

 

Since IE9 the number of cross-browser inconsistencies has reduced
dramatically, and many features of jQuery are now features of JavaScript.
For example, the following things are effectively equivalent:

 

// jQuery

var getThings = $('#id .class element');

 

and

 

// JavaScript

var getThings = document.getQuerySelectorAll('#id .class element');

 

More examples are available here:

http://youmightnotneedjquery.com/ 

 

The use of JavaScript libraries is in decline. jQuery remains the most
popular library in use, but with each new version numbers are diminishing.
Of the 50 million sites using jQuery, only 1.5 million use jQuery 1.9.x, and
250,000 use jQuery 2.x. jQuery 2.x is used on fewer sites than MooTools,
Script.Aculo.us (last updated in 2010), Prototype, and YUI (no longer
actively maintained) [2].

 

Several notable websites do not use jQuery (including Facebook, Wikipedia,
YouTube and Yahoo!). Nearly 34% of websites use no large JavaScript library
at all [3].

 

Example JavaScript (vanilla) can be used in any context (whether a framework
is being used to build an application or not). This means examples written
in JavaScript can be used by anyone.

 

Using vanilla JavaScript will also make it easier for people to learn the
fundamentals of accessible widget functionality. It might be a little more
verbose to read/write, but it isn’t abstracted into a library – and there is
no requirement for anyone to learn a particular library in order to
understand the examples either.

 

So in order to maximise usefulness, not place learning overheads on
developers, and in light of the general trend towards no libraries, I think
we should look again  at using vanilla JavaScript for the APG 1.1 examples.

 

Léonie.

 

[1] https://www.w3.org/2015/02/02-aria-apg-minutes.html

[2] http://trends.builtwith.com/javascript/javascript-library

[3] http://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/javascript_library/all 

 

 

-- 

Léonie Watson Senior accessibility engineer, TPG

@LeonieWatson @PacielloGroup PacielloGroup.com