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Re: Strikethrough Content with Screen Readers

for

From: Terrill Bennett
Date: Nov 20, 2010 1:45PM

From a previous post:

> We're reaching a *very* critical time
> on the web where if AT does not step
> up and start handling basic HTML,
> ARIA, and (especially) HTML5 markup
> (which has both <del> and <ins> and
> much more) that users of these
> technologies are going to quickly
> begin having very poor experiences on
> the web despite web authors creating
> highly accessible and well marked-up
> content.

ARIA and HTML5 are drafts, not finalized recommendations. Drafts are
moving targets. Read as Philippe Le Hegaret, W3C interaction domain
leader, warns on the early adoption of HTML5 and other issues with
the specification:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/w3c-hold-html5-in-websites-041

Mr. Le Hegaret states that there will be changes to APIs. As any
project manager can tell you, going back and changing existing code
due to changes in requirements is one of the most expensive
propositions known. And to a developer, retrofitting code is not
considered an overly-exciting task; there's no better way to rid your
team of good talent than repeatedly assigning them to maintenance.

For a moment, please consider the number of ARIA roles, their
defaults, options, relationships and hierarchy:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-wai-aria-20100916/roles

In light of the warning against the early adoption of HTML5, isn't it
too early to expect A.T. to implement the ARIA draft?

If we think that A.T. should be supporting these drafts fully, then
how much more are we willing to pay for a copy JAWS so Freedom
Scientific can add the necessary resources? How many more volunteers
will the NVDA Project need?

To write <del>something</del> or role="something" is exponentially
easier than developing the code in A.T. to support it, and fixing the
code when the requirement changes.

-- terrill --