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From: Meacham, Steve - FSA, Kansas City, MO
Date: Mon, Mar 06 2017 11:48AM
Subject: Best way to present a semantic row of name/value pairs
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Is it possible to present a semantically correct list of names and values that appear on a single line like this?

"Program Year: 2016 State: Iowa (06) County: Adair (001)"

This is a very simple example. Sometimes we have many more fields that span additional lines, or may be split into a left and right column of name/values. The data is static - not form controls.

I see three options:

- Use semantically neutral elements like <div> and <span> and add semantics with ARIA - but how?

- Use <dl> and <dt> elements, but how can it be styled like this, or into multiple columns?

- Use a non-layout <table> element, but can it be styled like this and still work with JAWS' table mode, recognizing heading and data cells?

- Use a <form> element with <labels>. Styling is easy. But are semantics maintained with nothing but static text (CDATA) instead of controls?

- Use a layout <table> element, but it loses semantics and table mode.

- Use <ol> and <li> elements; put the name, value, or both into <span> or other non-block elements; and use ARIA to associate the two - maybe aria-label? This will style, but not into columns, and loses field-by-field navigation.

Steven Meacham, ICT Accessibility Program Manager
+1 (816) 926-1942<tel:+18169261942>
FSA Section 508 Program<https://wiki.tools.fsa.usda.gov/x/AgCoAw>





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From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Mon, Mar 06 2017 1:38PM
Subject: Re: Best way to present a semantic row of name/value pairs
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Another option might be to semantically include each name-value pair inside a list item and then style the list and list items however you wish with CSS.I think there are quite a few articles available online that discuss how to style lists and list items different ways.

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Mon, Mar 06 2017 2:36PM
Subject: Re: Best way to present a semantic row of name/value pairs
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You can do some things with ARIA, others not so well.
ARIA list markup is airly well supported across browsers/a.t.
To build a list you:
* Put role="list" on the list container.
* role="listitem" on container for each list item.

Same semantic rules apply to an ARIA list that apply to an HTML list
(i.e. a list role can only contain list item roles).
example:
<div role="list">
<div role="listitem">
<span> year</span>
<span>2006</span>
</div>
<div role="listitem">
<span>County</span>
<span>Orange</span>
</div>
..
</div>

You can build a read only ARIA grid for a two-column table
<div role="grid" aria-readonly="true">
<div role="row">
<div role="columnheader">column header 1</div>
<div role="columnheader">Column header 2</div>
</div>
<div role="row">
<div role="rowheader">Year</div>
<div role="gridcell">2016</div>
</div>
..
</div>

ARIA 1.1 introduced the table and cell roles to build static tables using ARIA.
In the example above, swap role="grid" and aria-readonly="true" out
for rol="table"
Then swap out any instance of roe="gridcell" for role="cell" and you
follow the ARIA 1.1 table construct.
I have not seen any support for the ARIA table construct yet, and it
will take a few months (or maybe longer) to emerge.

Anyway, I think some sort of a <ul> or table construct might work
best, depending on your needs and styling.
Cheers
-B



On 3/6/17, Tim Harshbarger < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Another option might be to semantically include each name-value pair inside
> a list item and then style the list and list items however you wish with
> CSS.I think there are quite a few articles available online that discuss how
> to style lists and list items different ways.
>
>

From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Mon, Mar 06 2017 4:59PM
Subject: Re: Best way to present a semantic row of name/value pairs
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Unless you have a specific need, why don't you throw it in a csv file?

--
Ryan E. Benson

On Mon, Mar 6, 2017 at 1:48 PM, Meacham, Steve - FSA, Kansas City, MO <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> Is it possible to present a semantically correct list of names and values
> that appear on a single line like this?
>
> "Program Year: 2016 State: Iowa (06) County: Adair (001)"
>
> This is a very simple example. Sometimes we have many more fields that
> span additional lines, or may be split into a left and right column of
> name/values. The data is static - not form controls.
>
> I see three options:
>
> - Use semantically neutral elements like <div> and <span> and add
> semantics with ARIA - but how?
>
> - Use <dl> and <dt> elements, but how can it be styled like this,
> or into multiple columns?
>
> - Use a non-layout <table> element, but can it be styled like this
> and still work with JAWS' table mode, recognizing heading and data cells?
>
> - Use a <form> element with <labels>. Styling is easy. But are
> semantics maintained with nothing but static text (CDATA) instead of
> controls?
>
> - Use a layout <table> element, but it loses semantics and table
> mode.
>
> - Use <ol> and <li> elements; put the name, value, or both into
> <span> or other non-block elements; and use ARIA to associate the two -
> maybe aria-label? This will style, but not into columns, and loses
> field-by-field navigation.
>
> Steven Meacham, ICT Accessibility Program Manager
> +1 (816) 926-1942<tel:+18169261942>
> FSA Section 508 Program<https://wiki.tools.fsa.usda.gov/x/AgCoAw>
>
>
>
>
>
> This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely
> for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message
> or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law
> and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you
> have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete
> the email immediately.
> > > > >

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Mon, Mar 06 2017 5:59PM
Subject: Re: Best way to present a semantic row of name/value pairs
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On 06/03/2017 23:59, Ryan E. Benson wrote:
> Unless you have a specific need, why don't you throw it in a csv file?

Because presumably it's part of a webpage that has more content than
just that?

> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
>> Is it possible to present a semantically correct list of names and values
>> that appear on a single line like this?
>>
>> "Program Year: 2016 State: Iowa (06) County: Adair (001)"
>>
>> This is a very simple example. Sometimes we have many more fields that
>> span additional lines, or may be split into a left and right column of
>> name/values. The data is static - not form controls.
>>
>> I see three options:
>>
>> - Use semantically neutral elements like <div> and <span> and add
>> semantics with ARIA - but how?

I don't think there's any immediately obvious ARIA roles/relationships
that can be leveraged here.

>> - Use <dl> and <dt> elements, but how can it be styled like this,
>> or into multiple columns?

While <dl>/<dt>/<dd> seem nice, to my knowledge most ATs don't actually
do anything sensible like announce the relationship / the difference
between the term and description.

>> - Use a non-layout <table> element, but can it be styled like this
>> and still work with JAWS' table mode, recognizing heading and data cells?

You could make a linear table, with a single row and a series of
<th>/<td> elements, giving the <th> elements unique ids and using the
headers="..." attribute in each <td> to explicitly tie it to its
relevant header. Quite laborious, and AT support *should* be reasonable.

>> - Use a <form> element with <labels>. Styling is easy. But are
>> semantics maintained with nothing but static text (CDATA) instead of
>> controls?

labels and read-only text inputs start to really bend the idea of
semantics here.

>> - Use a layout <table> element, but it loses semantics and table
>> mode.
>>
>> - Use <ol> and <li> elements; put the name, value, or both into
>> <span> or other non-block elements; and use ARIA to associate the two -
>> maybe aria-label? This will style, but not into columns, and loses
>> field-by-field navigation.

Or the simplest solution: just have it as a simple paragraph of plain
text, without the need to structure any relationships. It's a very small
set of pieces of information, and it feels a bit like overkill to try
any markup acrobatics in the name of semantics, when it's likely
perfectly understandable if read out by AT users as a pure sentence
without any further overhead ("List with X items", "Table with 1 row and
X columns", etc)

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

www.splintered.co.uk | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
http://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | http://redux.deviantart.com
twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke