Re: Using ARIA role=heading without aria-level to improve user experience

Hey Bryan,

In the past I came across some incidents in which I needed a header in
place, but couldnšt really use the <h> tag, instead I used ARIA and it
worked seamlessly in JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver.

For example: <span role="heading" aria-level="2˛>This text will be read
and identified as a level 2 header</span>, just the same as if it was
enveloped within <h2>Š</h2>.  You can use it in a <div> or <span> and it
validates too.

Geri Druckman
Web Development Specialist - Accessibility
Department of Internet Services
MD Anderson Cancer Center
T 713-792-6293 | F 713-745-8134



On 8/14/14, 9:27 AM, "Sailesh Panchang" <sailesh.panchang@deque.com> wrote:

>Hello Bryan,
>Please see ARIA12 including example #1 and its wording
>http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/ARIA12.html
>And the code validates successfully too.
>The specs for aria-level say:
>If the DOM ancestry accurately represents the level, the user agent
>can calculate the level of an item from the document structure. This
>attribute can be used to provide an explicit indication of the level
>when that is not possible to calculate from the document structure or
>the aria-owns ...
>
>So aria-level is not mandatory when role=heading is used.
>As noted in the explanation for the illustration (on
>http://www.deque.com/blog/accessible-html-heading-markup/), even
>without aria-level the text is exposed explicitly as a heading to SR
>users. Sure it will help users if it is more explicit.
>And the point of the article is that in some situations one can pass
>SC 1.3.1 and SC 2.4.10 without explicit heading markup. I have seen
>many pages (privacy / security terms or terms to be agreed to before
>continuing sign up, etc.) where there are text labels that serve as
>headings but are not styled distinctively. The UI designers / content
>authors refuse to change appearance of these "headings" or are unable
>to mark them up as h<n> and style them.
>Regards,
>Sailesh
>
>
>On 8/13/14, Bryan Garaventa <bryan.garaventa@whatsock.com> wrote:
>> Is a heading without a level really a valid heading though?
>>
>> For instance, <h> doesn't exist </h>
>>
>> There would be no way to convey structural nesting.
>>
>> I think it would be a mistake to allow this using ARIA role='heading'.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Sailesh Panchang [mailto:sailesh.panchang@deque.com]
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2014 6:22 AM
>> To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
>> Subject: Using ARIA role=heading without aria-level to improve user
>> experience
>>
>> FYI "Accessible HTML Heading Markup"
>> http://www.deque.com/blog/accessible-html-heading-markup/
>> Thanks,
>> Sailesh Panchang
>>
>>
>>
>

Received on Thursday, 14 August 2014 15:10:47 UTC