RE: Created branch with proposed wording for 1.3.4

Without entering into a full discussion, I don’t think WCAG is the right vehicle for addressing the “chicken and egg” situation, nor that the current proposal is likely to do so effectively. Alex pointed out at a recent meeting that there are many ways of solving this problem, and I take the view that WCAG, though an important mechanism, isn’t the right one to be used, given the current early development of the solutions on offer. I agree that efficacious solutions ready for wide deployment should be included in WCAG, as ARIA was in 2008, and I hope cognition-supporting assistive technologies, with their associated standards, will become (and there are other ways of advancing this effort).

From: Alastair Campbell [mailto:acampbell@nomensa.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2018 12:39 PM
To: White, Jason J <jjwhite@ets.org>; Michael Gower <michael.gower@ca.ibm.com>
Cc: Andrew Kirkpatrick <akirkpat@adobe.com>; David MacDonald <david@can-adapt.com>; WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Subject: Re: Created branch with proposed wording for 1.3.4

Jason:
> I would prefer to separate the metadata-bearing attributes that are used to convey a UI control’s purpose for reasons of accessibility, from the autocomplete feature of HTML

Yes, many of us would, but that hit a dead end. We won’t get past the chicken & egg situation without *something*, and this is something.

mgower:
> where autofill was turned on, everyone would face a situation where they would now have to distinguish between what the autofill is suggesting, and what the field is actually asking for.

By the way, I meant ‘autofill on’ as in the user-agent is allowed to save & paste in values. There is also the site adding the attribute to enable it.

My point is that the negative general effects make it unlikely that it would be abused from an accessibility point of view.

-Alastair


________________________________

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it may contain privileged or confidential information. It is solely for use by the individual for whom it is intended, even if addressed incorrectly. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender; do not disclose, copy, distribute, or take any action in reliance on the contents of this information; and delete it from your system. Any other use of this e-mail is prohibited.


Thank you for your compliance.

________________________________