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Re: ARIA Attributes Affecting Page Load?

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From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Aug 25, 2016 8:56AM

I would still recommend asking them additional questions on why they think it is a problem. It is probably best to dig into the details.

Just adding roles and attributes shouldn't cause a problem. However, it can be easy to forget that sometimes additional javascript needs to be created to support ensuring the roles and attributes actually do something meaningful. Their concern could possibly be with the additional javascript code they think they need to write in addition to whatever code they already created for the carousel.

Honestly, a lot of times how much accessibility progress we can make on a user interface depends on the type and nature of the relationships we build with the rest of the project team. I definitely know there are some "bad actors" who have negative opinions about accessibility. However, I find it useful to keep asking "why?" when they say something can't or shouldn't be done until I have a better understanding of the concern. There are times when they might be misunderstanding and clarifying the misunderstanding works to remove the problem. There are many times when they have real concerns or limitations that need to be addressed--which might be best addressed by taking another approach.

I don't know what they are thinking--but just for one example. Perhaps their current page load time is already a problem and they have a real concern that adding the functionality will just make the problem even more noticeable. They might be in a situation where they need to completely rewrite the code for the user interface to really address the page load concerns, but they can't do that now--which might make them sensitive to adding additional functionality.

And even if their reasons for not doing it are just excuses for not doing more work--asking for more details will help make that clearer. IN which case, you may need to look at other approaches that will address that problem.