Re: Invalid HTML versus not(?) failing 4.1.1: Parsing

> having invalid attributes is not a failure of 4.1.1


+1 to Patrick.

As an interesting tid-bit, the biggest part of HTML5 wasn't really about
adding new elements or attributes to the markup language, but rather the
browser vendors standardizing on failures, and/or how browsers can
remediate 'broken' code. So today browsers do a lot of 'fixing' of
'invalid' code. Nonetheless I continue to suggest that developers validate
their code (it's a Pride of Workmanship thing) because if/when something
isn't working right, if I know my code is valid it already eliminates one
potential reason why 'it' is failing. (But that's me)

> and F70 https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/failures/F70


It is also worth noting/reminding that "Techniques" are non-normative in
WCAG. Furthermore, of all of our Techniques, I assert that
"Failure Techniques" are the weakest of the lot (IMHO), because while they
document common ways of failing, they do not list ALL of the potential ways
you might fail. I cringe every time I see organizations seeking to claim
conformance to WCAG by testing that they did not meet any of the Failure
Techniques, (so ergo, they did not Fail - and so, the argument continues,
they must have succeeded!). That convoluted reverse thinking continues to
leave me gob-smacked.

JF

On Mon, Jan 31, 2022 at 5:02 PM Patrick H. Lauke <redux@splintered.co.uk>
wrote:

> On 31/01/2022 21:37, Bristow, Alan wrote:
>
> > I know 4.1.1 is complex topic, but I have a CMS adding an ALT attribute
> > to a DIV (yes, a (redundant) DIV) that is wrapping an IMG. The IMG also
> > (validly) has an ALT attribute. Per the spec the DIV's ALT is invalid:
> >
> >
> https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/grouping-content.html#the-div-element
> > <
> https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/grouping-content.html#the-div-element
> >
> >
> > specifically 'Global attributes'
> >
> > https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/dom.html#global-attributes
> > <https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/dom.html#global-attributes>
> >
> >
> > In short, I assume it is not a fail if someone adds an ALT attribute to
> > a DIV, even though it is blatantly invalid HTML, because it does not (I
> > sadly think) satisfy the wording of 4.1.1 or F70.
>
> Correct, having invalid attributes is not a failure of 4.1.1. And in
> practice, invalid/unknown attributes don't cause any actual
> accessibility issues.
>
> P
> --
> Patrick H. Lauke
>
> https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
> https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
> twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
>
>

-- 
*John Foliot* |
Senior Industry Specialist, Digital Accessibility |
W3C Accessibility Standards Contributor |

"I made this so long because I did not have time to make it shorter." -
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