Re: From the HTML-WG about aria-hidden

Janina Sajka, Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:50:43 -0500:
> Leif Halvard Silli writes:
>> Laura Carlson, Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:55:09 -0600:
>>> What about the user level? What is impacted?
>> 
>> At the user level, the impact is meant to lead to a richer experience. 
>> E.g. instead of flattening the following link to a text string, the 
>> user instead receives it as a link: 
>> 
>> <img src=image aria-describedby=description alt=text >
>> <a id=description hidden=hidden aria-hidden=true
>>    href=link >Link to long description.</a>
>> 
>> And according to Jonas, last week in public-html@, then whether the AT 
>> would perceive the above link as link, would not depend on the AT - but 
>> on the UA. If that is so, then it diminishes the possible downsides a 
>> lot: The only requirement would then be that the AT supports 
>> @aria-describedby. 
> 
> And what about people who might want to consume the content but who do
> not use AT? I seem to recall this was an important requirement of the
> HTML-WG some months back, and rightfully so.

Good question. Currently, the spec says that @hidden can be used for 
content that has been written *especially* for AT users. 

> It seems to me a lot of complication is being concocted to serve a
> function far more simply served by longdesc. I still suggest a shave
> with Occam's Razor.

I am not certain that that is a good point: Even without @hidden, one 
can do the same thing - but with more work for the author.

Also, @longdesc only works for <img> - while @aria-describedby and 
@hidden can be used all over.
-- 
Leif Halvard Silli

Received on Friday, 17 February 2012 03:19:05 UTC