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Re: Info widgets with role="dialog"

for

From: Bryan Garaventa
Date: Jan 21, 2015 12:21PM

There's an important note that I need to make, that describing the Authoring Guide at
http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices/
as an "ARIA authoring spec" is actually incorrect, since this is not a spec, but just a best practices guide that we are in the
process of re-editing for better clarity and more comprehensive usage patterns. None of the patterns listed there are spec
requirements, and some have open bugs against them that we are currently addressing.


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jared Smith
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 10:04 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Info widgets with role="dialog"

Birkir R. Gunnarsson wrote:
> The ARIA authoring spec recommends role="document" on static text as
> well as tabindex="0" to make sure infomration stays in focus order

Interesting. I'm not quite sure I agree with the suggestion that a simple message dialog be given the dialog role and the message
itself role=document and tabindex=0. It seems much easier and more intuitive to simply NOT give the pop-up role="dialog" and allow
the natural reading process of the screenreader to access the text message.

Of course doing has the possibility that the user would hit Tab and bypass the message altogether. On the other hand, using
role="dialog"
and tabindex has the potential for confusion because of the intermingling of the focusable message that isn't interactive and other
application elements that are.

Either approach has disadvantages and potential for confusion. Without user data, I think I must (rather reluctantly) favor the
documented recommendations in the spec - role=dialog for all pop-ups and role=document and tabindex on all non-application stuff
within them.

Jared