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Re: [EXTERNAL] Role Application issue

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From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Jun 26, 2018 6:32AM

My personal opinion is that using role="application" might be ok in this situation. If I understand the situation correctly, it sounds like you are attempting to simulate the Windows desktop environment. If you use role="application" and mimic many of the keyboard shortcuts that are used in the actual environment, I think it might make the simulation possibly more accessible and useful to both to people who use the keyboard and people who use screen readers.
You likely will want to use native HTML controls and ARIA design patterns that best match what is used in the Windows environment to help with the simulation. However, there is likely at least some limitation to how closely the simulated environment can get to mimicking the actual environment.

If you do that, you may also want to provide some kind of help guide that explains what shortcut keys are available since you will likely only want to implement some of the keyboard shortcuts that are available in the actual environment rather than all the keyboard shortcuts that are available. Maybe even provide a link outside the role="application" that provides that information to users?

I hope that helps at least some.