use of aria-hidden to provide a text description not visible on the page.

Hi all,
the code below references a hidden div element with a description. The
description text string is provided in the accessible description property
in MSAA and Ia2 in firefox, should it be given that the div is hidden?

 <img alt="bottle" aria-describedby="x">
<div aria-hidden="true" style="display:none">
blue bottle with a rusty lid
</div>


 the following from the WAI-ARIA spec [
http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/complete#namecalculation] suggests it is OK.

"The text alternative for a given node is computed as follows:

   1. Skip hidden
<http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/complete#def_hidden>elements unless the
author specifies to use them via an
   aria-labelledby or aria-describedby being used in the current
   computation. By default, users of assistive
technologies<http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/complete#def_at>won't
receive the hidden information, but an author will be able to
   explicitly override that and include the hidden information. "

If so it is a useful method of providing descriptive information for AT
users.

-- 
with regards

Steve Faulkner
Technical Director - TPG Europe
Director - Web Accessibility Tools Consortium

www.paciellogroup.com | www.wat-c.org
Web Accessibility Toolbar -
http://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/wat-ie-about.html