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Bug 10444 - ARIA section does not list elements that have no default role or role restrictions
Summary: ARIA section does not list elements that have no default role or role restric...
Status: RESOLVED LATER
Alias: None
Product: HTML WG
Classification: Unclassified
Component: pre-LC1 HTML5 spec (editor: Ian Hickson) (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: PC All
: P2 normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: steve faulkner
QA Contact: HTML WG Bugzilla archive list
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: a11y, a11ytf, aria, TrackerIssue
Depends on:
Blocks: 10066 10481
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Reported: 2010-08-26 09:37 UTC by Maciej Stachowiak
Modified: 2013-01-21 13:16 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

See Also:


Attachments

Description Maciej Stachowiak 2010-08-26 09:37:14 UTC
Some HTML elements have no special ARIA semantics - neither a default role nor restrictions on allowed roles. While it can be inferred that this is true of any element not explicitly mentioned, it is helpful for implementors and reviewers of the spec to have an explicit list, if only to be confident that missing elements are supposed to be handled this way, and were not just overlooked.

Elements in this category:

a (not representing a hyperlink)
abbr
area (not representing a hyperlink)
audio
b
base
bdo
blockquote
br
canvas
caption
cite
code
col
colgroup
command
dd
del
dfn
div
dl
dt
em
embed
fieldset
figcaption
figure
form
h1-h6 (that are contained in an hgroup)
head
html
iframe
img (that does not have an empty alt)
ins
kbd
keygen
label
legend
li (that has no ul or ol parent)
link (that does not represent a hyperlink)
map
mark
math
meta
meter
optgroup
option
p
param
pre
q
rp
rt
ruby
samp
script
small
source
span
strong
style
sub
summary
sup
svg
table
tbody
td
tfoot
thead
time
title
var
video
wbr
Comment 1 Ian 'Hixie' Hickson 2010-08-26 19:16:15 UTC
EDITOR'S RESPONSE: This is an Editor's Response to your comment. If you are satisfied with this response, please change the state of this bug to CLOSED. If you have additional information and would like the editor to reconsider, please reopen this bug. If you would like to escalate the issue to the full HTML Working Group, please add the TrackerRequest keyword to this bug, and suggest title and text for the tracker issue; or you may create a tracker issue yourself, if you are able to do so. For more details, see this document:
   http://dev.w3.org/html5/decision-policy/decision-policy.html

Status: Accepted
Change Description: see diff given below
Rationale: I can see this would be useful. It's going to be a maintenance nightmare though.
Comment 2 contributor 2010-08-26 19:16:40 UTC
Checked in as WHATWG revision r5363.
Check-in comment: Add a note with the list of elements with no roles. Hopefully it is complete. Let me know if I missed anything. (Original list from Maciej.)
http://html5.org/tools/web-apps-tracker?from=5362&to=5363
Comment 3 Leif Halvard Silli 2010-08-28 19:18:21 UTC
The intention of the (In reply to comment #0)
> Some HTML elements have no special ARIA semantics - neither a default role nor
> restrictions on allowed roles. While it can be inferred that this is true of
> any element not explicitly mentioned, it is helpful for implementors and
> reviewers of the spec to have an explicit list, if only to be confident that
> missing elements are supposed to be handled this way, and were not just
> overlooked.
> 
> Elements in this category:
  
   <snip>

> img (that does not have an empty alt)

This is incorrect.  Please remove the IMG with non-empty @alt from the list.

The proposal from the A11Y TF is that an IMG element with an non-empty @alt should default to role="img".

http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/misc/HTML5/aria-html5-proposal.html

This can also be demonstrated with a look at how VoiceOver works with Webkit: Normally, VoiceOver reads the @alt attribute of an IMG. But when  the <img> element has the @usemap attribute, then Webkit does not read teh @alt attribute. However, if you give an <img> element BOTH @usemap + @role="img", _then_ VoiceOver/Webkit reads the @alt attribute.

That Webkit fails to read the @alt of an image map <img>, is a bug. However, the described behavior demonstrates that Webkit, by default, treats an <img> element as having role="img".

The correct resolution is to say that <img> with a non-empty @alt should default to role="img" but that it may be set to any role.
Comment 4 Leif Halvard Silli 2010-08-29 00:15:14 UTC
I'm not sure about the editor's intention with regard to table  it now occurs in two lists:

(1) it is listed in the weak-aria  roles table [1]:

]] table element	grid role	    Role must be either grid or treegrid [[

[1] http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/content-models.html#tabl-aria-weak

AND  it appears below the mentioned table, amongst the list of elemetns for which there is not default role.

]] A number of elements in HTML have no default role and no restrictions on what roles can be applied to those elements: ..... table .... [[
Comment 5 Maciej Stachowiak 2010-08-29 01:22:59 UTC
Filed this bug on img with non-empty alt:
http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=10485

This bug already exists on the issue of table being listed twice:
http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=10465

Leif, I believe this covers the additional issues you raised, so re-closing this bug.
Comment 6 steve faulkner 2010-09-28 08:33:32 UTC
re-opening as editor has indicated (http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=10603) he is going to remove the requested information.
Comment 7 Ian 'Hixie' Hickson 2010-09-28 17:52:36 UTC
Thanks. Once I've removed the list I'll mark this WONTFIX.

It turned out to be a maintenance nightmare, and had too many inaccuracies to be useful. Furthermore, making it accurate would make it essentially unusable. The problem is that the roles don't just depend on the element names.
Comment 8 Ian 'Hixie' Hickson 2010-09-30 08:47:07 UTC
EDITOR'S RESPONSE: This is an Editor's Response to your comment. If you are satisfied with this response, please change the state of this bug to CLOSED. If you have additional information and would like the editor to reconsider, please reopen this bug. If you would like to escalate the issue to the full HTML Working Group, please add the TrackerRequest keyword to this bug, and suggest title and text for the tracker issue; or you may create a tracker issue yourself, if you are able to do so. For more details, see this document:
   http://dev.w3.org/html5/decision-policy/decision-policy.html

Status: Rejected
Change Description: no spec change
Rationale: see comment 7
Comment 9 steve faulkner 2010-10-12 09:04:32 UTC
added to HTML WG Issue http://www.w3.org/html/wg/tracker/issues/129
Comment 10 Michael Cooper 2010-12-15 14:42:09 UTC
This is part of HTML-ISSUE-129. There is some debate taking place actively. Therefore bug triage sub-team thinks this is a HTML A11Y TF priority. Adding a11ytf keyword and assigning to Steve Faulkner for ARIA mapping sub-team.