The Boolean "activate" Attribute
Current Wording
source: Access Module (14 April 2008 Working Draft)
3.1.1. activate = ( yes | no* )
The activate attribute indicates whether a target element should be activated or not once it obtains focus. The default value for this attribute is "no", indicating that the element will not be "activated". User agents may provide mechanisms for overriding the setting of the activate attribute. In such user agents, user-specified settings must take precendence [sic].
(Note: The use of an asterisk to indicate that no is the default value for activate is glossed in the actual draft with the ABBR element, in order to provide an equivalent for what otherwise could be classified as "ASCII art"; the use of asterisks to denote default values in the XHTML Modularization effort will all reflect this practice.)
Proposed Re-Wording
3.1.1. activate = ( yes | no* )
The activate attribute indicates whether a target element should be activated or not once it obtains focus. The default value for this attribute is "no", indicating that the element will not be "activated". User agents MUST provide mechanisms for overriding the author setting with user-specified settings in order to ensure that the act of moving content focus does not cause the user agent to take any further action (UAAG 1.0, Checkpoint 9.5).
User agents MUST provide keyboard mechanisms for "activating" any event associated with the focused element (UAAG 1.0, Checkpoint 1.2) and SHOULD make available the list of events associated with the element (UAAG 1.0, Checkpoint 9.6).
Pertitent UAAG 2.0 Principles & Success Criteria
Note: We must ensure that the following principles are adequately covered by the preceding proposed re-wording.
UAAG 2.0 - 3.12.11 On Focus: The user has the option of ensuring that moving the content focus to or from an enabled element does not cause the user agent to take any further action. (Level A)
- Note: 3.12.11 implies that the user directly moves focus to an element. Activating an accesskey has the same effect as using the tab-key to move focus to an element, in that accesskey moves the focus from its current location directly to the element with the accesskey attribute.
UAAG 2.0 - 4.2.2 Show All: For the element with content focus, the list of input device event types for which there are event handlers explicitly associated with the element are provided. (Level A)
- Note: having a list of event handlers is of dubious utility. In order for a user to benefit from the list of event handlers she must know or be informed of what action will occur upon activation. The user agent should know about events that can occur. How does the user agent get the information about what an event handler will do to share with the user?
UAAG 2.0 - 4.2.3 Activate All: The user can activate, as a group, all event handlers of the same input device event type, for the same control. (Level A)
Note: Thanks to Jim Allan, Judy Brewer, Alan Cantor, Kelly Ford, Al Gilman, Gez Lemon, Jan Richards, and Jeanne Spellman for their direct input on this issue. Thanks, as well, to the entire User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Group for their attention to detail and invaluable contributions.
For UAWG Review: Access Element | Activate Attribute | Key Mapping/Binding