ISSUE-85

ARIA roles added to the a element should be conforming in HTML5

State:

RAISED

Product:

HTML 5 spec

Raised by:

Steve Faulkner

Opened on:

2009-10-23

Description:

escalated from http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=8000

Currently the a element is defined in the HTML5 specification as an element that cannot have its native role overridden by ARIA roles [1]
 
This is contrary to use in the wild as it has been overridden by the addition of a number of roles in popular javascript UI libraries.
 
Examples:
button
http://jqueryui.com/demos/dialog/
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/examples/carousel/carousel-ariaplugin_source.html
tab
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/examples/tabview/tabview-ariaplugin_clean.html
menutiem
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/examples/menu/menuwaiaria_source.html
 
 
It is important to understand that it is not ARIA that is making the link into a button, its the developers use of javascript, event handlers and CSS that is making it look and act like a button or tab or menutiem. The addition of ARIA is merely providing the information that other users get by default. So making the addition of an ARIA role non conforming, to an element that has been designed to act and look like something other than its native role, is not the appropriate repsonse.
The reasons for creating ARIA centered around the inability of the HTML specification to address how author would create content. In fact, with the exception of forms, it was assumed that HTML would only be used for documents. Clearly, that was a miscalculation. 
 
It is essential that authors be given the tools to produce accessible applications. The perception, by some, is that ARIA is meant to circumvent the semantics of the host language, but rather it is the author that is circumventing the host language to create UI controls that satisfy their needs. WAI-ARIA simply provides the semantics to make them interoperable with assistive technologies.
 
 
[1] http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/embedded-content-0.html#annotations-for-assistive-technology-products-aria

Related Actions Items:

No related actions

Related emails:

1. Re: ISSUE-85 ARIA roles and button/links (from w3c@cssquirrel.com on 2009-11-18)
2. ISSUE-85 ARIA roles and button/links (from shelley.just@gmail.com on 2009-11-18)
3. minutes Re: {agenda} HTML WG telcon 2009-10-29: issues, action items, calls for consensus/proposals, task forces, F2F... (from cooper@w3.org on 2009-10-29)
4. Re: {agenda} HTML WG telcon 2009-10-29: issues, action items, calls for consensus/proposals, task forces, F2F... (from singer@apple.com on 2009-10-29)
5. {agenda} HTML WG telcon 2009-10-29: issues, action items, calls for consensus/proposals, task forces, F2F... (from rubys@intertwingly.net on 2009-10-28)
6. [Bug 8000] ARIA roles added to the a element should be conforming in HTML5 (from bugzilla@wiggum.w3.org on 2009-10-23)
7. Re: ARIA roles added to the a element should be conforming in HTML5. (from faulkner.steve@gmail.com on 2009-10-23)
8. ISSUE-85: ARIA roles added to the a element should be conforming in HTML5 [HTML 5 spec] (from sysbot+tracker@w3.org on 2009-10-23)

Related notes:

Display change log