W3C

– DRAFT –
Accessible Rich Internet Applications Working Group Teleconference

Attendees

Present
Adam_Page, benbeaudry, cyns, Daniel, dgrogan, filippo-zorzi, giacomo-petri, Jacques, jcraig, Matt_King, pkra, smockle, Stefan
Regrets
spectranaut
Chair
James Nurthen
Scribe
jcraig, Daniel

Meeting minutes

New PR Triage

<github-bot> I can't comment on that because it doesn't look like a github issue to me.

triage w3c/aria#2720

jamesn: no new PRs

WPT Open PRs

<github-bot> I can't comment on that because it doesn't look like a github issue to me.

jcraig: no new ones

Deep Dive planning

<github-bot> I can't comment on that because it doesn't look like a github issue to me.

jamesn: no new suggestions for deep dives

Should :target-current pseudo class also imply aria-current=true on an active scroll marker?

GitHub: w3c/aria#2710

jamesn: discussed last week. no comments added. anyone. want to start the queue?

<sakhapov> sakhapov

sakhapov: :target-current pseudo-class proposal related to clickables within a group, and it's relation to aria-current="true"

jamesn: if we are setting :target-current, and exposing it to assistive tech, we want to right a11y tests

wondering if we would be able to get that within testing tools

sakhapov: i have a limited knowledge of that per browser, but I think you can query dev tools

jcraig: asking whether within a testing tool, we can determine whether aria-current has been set

jamesn: asking as a testing tools manufacturer

sakhapov: if the browser maps it, you should be able to query it

dgrogan: you asked if in certain patterns, could you give an example?

jamesn: breadcrumb pattern... TOC, etc

if we're using this new pseudo class, how can the testing tool validate the author's usage of this pattern

dgrogan: browser can definitely test this.

not sure about additional testing tools

jarhar: internal browser tests verify this for the web engines

but I don't think this is readily available via DOM tests, but probably through WebDriver

jarhar: also can't test aria-posinset or similar ARIA attrs

jcraig: We're not going to be changing the aria-current property based on that.
… We are talking about mapping a representation of the current element within the browsers internal accessibility
… aria-current is only one path into this state of currency
… It can be detected in web development tools. I'd say in the web inspector this is added
… I don't believe that this is easily detectable by third-party test tools
… But it can be testable through wpt, where we are trying to map accessibility properties as a static copy
… target current pseudo class etc would be mapped and would be able to be queried

jamesn: left the discussion last week with a request for resolution to take forward to CSS WG

what would you like the resolution to say

dgrogan: req jcraig draft the resolution

<jarhar> proposed resolution: elements which match :target-current should also have the equivalent a11y mapping of the aria-current=true attribute

if the browser blesses an element with the :target-current pseudo class, should it get the same mapping as aria-current

jcraig: i think the answer is yes

mattking: if the author declares the aria-current content attr on another element, and the browser's :target-current status conflicts, what should the conflict resolution be? or should both be exposed as current?

concerns re: verbosity or confusion

jamesn: it's already possible to have multiple levels of "current-ness" on a page... then we get into the situation where there is a "current" conflict within a single group.

can it already happen with aria-current today? yes, it's an author bug

might authors be confused if the browser auto applied the current state unexpectedly

mattking: some places where browser may not auto-apply this... for example, if the browser sees any non-true/false value applied by an author, it should not auto-apply the true value

for example, aria-current="page" on the element or parent element?

bryan: in case of conflict, aria-current can be toggled between diff values

<jamesn> From the proposal “Author preference: If an author manually sets aria-current, that should still win."

if author explicitly applies aria-current="false" on element, will it unapply the pseudo

jamesn: proposal says aria-current content attr or reflected ariaCurrent DOM prop always wins over the pseudo

sakhapov: when you use the pseudo, you set a contract with browsers, so author should one or the other but not both...

jamesn: I think the answer is that both with be exposed to AT if both applied

jcraig: but that would be an author error

mattking: if author specified aria-current=page on the parent, that's the only thing the AT should see.

I've seen examples where AT is cascading "current" to descendants of the current ancestor container

mattking: perhaps should explore specific authoring scenarios

mattking: pseudo should never override the aria content attr

sakhapov: confirmed, that should never happen

jcraig: Matt, the scenario that you call out where AT announces current on descendant nodes I think it's an AT bug
… We could look if that's also a browser bug

MattKing: If you're using a tree widget and aria-current on the tree item but the pseudo class is on the link inside the tree item, what would happen?

jcraig: I think that we would consider that an authoring error, because they're applying them to different nodes. Best thing for browsers would be to still expose this as authors are supposed to know better

MattKing: Not sure that should be an author mistake
… I'd rather put everything on the treeitem which is the one that should be focusable

jcraig: In any case authors should not be used both PIs at once according to the current proposal
… Or at least that's what the proposal should suggest IMO

Danniel: Not really

sakhapov: api is scroll-target-group.

users may not see the styling, so the :target-current pseudo can be styled

Jacques: if author applied current to [example], would it no longer apply the pseudo?

dgrogan: from proposal "Author preference: If an author manually sets aria-current, that should still win."

jcraig: If an author uses both scroll-target-group and aria-current in the same context and there's a conflict, that'd be an author error
… if there's direct application of aria-current, then aria-current as specified by the author should win

jcraig: If there's an indirect conflict both of them should be exposed and it should be flagged as an authoring error

Mattking: That should be a browser requirement, third-party tools cannot currently check that

jcraig: True that browsers could know this and log it via console.warning or console.error
… There should be a way in wpt to validate that but I don't know if there's anything browsers would do differently in that scenario
… It may be possible for third-party tool vendors via the DOM, or some public API via CSS to check which API is applied

David: computed style on JavaScript

jcraig: In that case we could detect that is an error because the computed style would detect the presence of both

sakhapov: And you also could query for a different style

jcraig: I don't think these testing tools can do that

<jamesn> resolution

https://www.irccloud.com/pastebin/bo8ZMy6q/

https://www.irccloud.com/pastebin/AhaC4v8W/

proposed resolution:

If an element is determined by the browser to be the active scroll marker within a group:

- It should implicitly map to the same platform and internal engine mappings as aria-current="true" in the accessibility tree.

- No attribute injection: This doesn't change the DOM; it just updates the platform mapping.

- Author preference: If an author manually sets aria-current, that should still win.

- if an author uses both scroll-target-group, and aria-current, that is an author error

[further discussion of proposal]

jamesn: objections?

<sakhapov> - Author preference: If an author manually sets aria-current on the active scroll marker, that should still win.

RESOLUTION:

If an element is determined by the browser to be the active scroll marker within a group:

- It should implicitly map to the same platform and internal engine mappings as aria-current="true" in the accessibility tree.

- No attribute injection: This doesn't change the DOM; it just updates the platform mapping.

- Author preference: If an author manually sets aria-current on the active scroll marker, that should still win.

- if an author uses both scroll-target-group, and aria-current, that is an author error

jcraig: Scribe Note: I think it was clear the context was:

- If an author uses both scroll-target-group and aria-current _[and that results in a conflict]_, that is an author error...

- there may still be a case where an author wishes to use both for backwards compatibility until all major browsers support the new API so non-conflicting usage of both APIs should not be treated as an error

However the meeting ended before I spotted this distinction, so the bracketed addition is not part of the official resolution.

Summary of resolutions

Minutes manually created (not a transcript), formatted by scribe.perl version 248 (Mon Oct 27 20:04:16 2025 UTC).