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Re: Multiple H1 tags in an HTML5 web page

for

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Mar 10, 2014 8:33PM

Jared wrote: "As wonderful as it would be, we're not really the right group
to address things like this - at least not alone. Work in the W3C (and a few
other groups) on HTML5+ (despite the several arguments in this thread
against some of its 'features') and other specifications is where web
standards should be defined and improved."

And that's exactly where WebAIM should be working... with those who set the
standards.

Is WebAIM doing that? I haven't heard any discussion about it so I don't
know.

"There is great work going on with ARIA and with HTML5 to extend the
available vocabulary to better match those defined in accessibility APIs,
and in extending those APIs so we can communicate accessibility in more
robust ways."

Are there tools in Word or Office for creating an ARIA compliant document?
Does Acrobat have them?
Does Dreamweaver and other web authoring software have those tools?
How about Adobe InDesign and other EPUB authoring software?

Until those basic software programs - which are used to create probably 90%
of all documents and information - have tools to make ARIA-compliant
documents and websites, it will not meet the needs of people with
disabilities. At this time, ARIA requires hand programming. Given that the
US Federal government alone creates over one billion information documents
every day, it's impossible to have each of them hand-coded into compliance.

Don't misread what I'm saying: I'm pro-ARIA and think it will someday
provide a good solution for some obstacles. But I have not yet heard any of
the major companies and their software engineering teams even mention ARIA.

It will help when the WC3 finalizes a standard that could be implemented by
software manufacturers. Once that's done, it will take another 18-24 months
to have something in their software programs for users to use, and that's a
very pie-in-the-sky estimate.

But someone is going to have to push the software manufacturers to build
those tools into their software; they will not do that on their own accord.
WebAIM could be the one to "push" them.

-Bevi Chagnon

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-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jared Smith
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 8:53 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Multiple H1 tags in an HTML5 web page

Chagnon | PubCom wrote:

> But we could develop a happy medium between the ridiculously skimpy
> tag set we now have for accessibility, and the anal-retentive nonsense
> of SGML and some XML.
>
> WebAIM is one group that could address this and get the problem fixed
> for everyone. That would be a wonderful accomplishment for this group,
> wouldn't it?

As wonderful as it would be, we're not really the right group to address
things like this - at least not alone. Work in the W3C (and a few other
groups) on HTML5+ (despite the several arguments in this thread against some
of its 'features') and other specifications is where web standards should be
defined and improved.

Screen readers already understand a fairly robust language for
accessibility, but HTML has a very limited accessibility vocabulary for
communicating with them. There is great work going on with ARIA and with
HTML5 to extend the available vocabulary to better match those defined in
accessibility APIs, and in extending those APIs so we can communicate
accessibility in more robust ways.

Jared
messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>