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Re: Using aria-selected=true on any HTML element?

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From: Paul J. Adam
Date: Aug 21, 2012 4:17PM

Hey Steve, thanks for the reply. I do agree with your linked suggestion to allow aria-selected state on any focusable element. It also would be great if any of the ARIA states could be applied to focusable elements.

I made a quick test case with three aria- states applied to links, list items, and buttons. No support with JAWS. NVDA only supports on IE latest. Expanded has better support than selected and pressed does not have any support other than JAWS saying it's a toggle button.

<http://pauljadam.com/demos/aria/aria-selected.html>;

So is it unwise to recommend aria to convey state of JavaScript widgets if it has support only in certain browsers & AT?

Instead should I recommend conveying state with visually hidden text? Or title attributes? Or placing the state as an alt attribute in an image if present in the widget?

Can you say that a widget is not accessible if it only relies on aria states?

Paul J. Adam
Accessibility Evangelist
Deque Systems
<EMAIL REMOVED>
www.PaulJAdam.com
@pauljadam on Twitter

On Aug 21, 2012, at 2:59 PM, Steve Faulkner < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> hi Paul,
>
>>> Adding aria-selected to a HTML element does cause VoiceOver to speak the text "selected" even if it's not one of the supported roles.
>
> this may work for voiceover but may well not work for other AT will check
>
> this related thread on WAI-xtech may be of interest:
> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/wai-xtech/2012Jul/0006.html
>
>
> regards
> SteveF
>
> On 21 August 2012 20:36, Paul J. Adam < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>> The WAI-ARIA spec states that the aria-selected state is only used in roles gridcell, option, row, and tab. <http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/states_and_properties#aria-selected>;
>>
>> Is it bad to use aria-selected=true on a HTML widget with a selected state that does not fall into one of these roles? Like a list item or link?
>>
>> If aria selected should not be used on links or list items then how would you communicate state to a screen reader? Visually hidden text? Title attribute?
>>
>> Adding aria-selected to a HTML element does cause VoiceOver to speak the text "selected" even if it's not one of the supported roles.
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>> Paul J. Adam
>> Accessibility Evangelist
>> Deque Systems
>> <EMAIL REMOVED>
>> www.PaulJAdam.com
>> @pauljadam on Twitter
>>
>> >> >> >
>
>
> --
> with regards
>
> Steve Faulkner
> Technical Director - TPG
>
> www.paciellogroup.com | www.HTML5accessibility.com |
> www.twitter.com/stevefaulkner
> HTML5: Techniques for providing useful text alternatives -
> dev.w3.org/html5/alt-techniques/
> Web Accessibility Toolbar - www.paciellogroup.com/resources/wat-ie-about.html
> > >