+1 for <input type="hidden"> Has someone tested this with a screen reader?
I'm surprised that an <input> is valid without being nested inside a <form>, but pleasantly so. This syntax seems no more difficult to parse than <abbr title="something"> and using a standards-compliant attribute to identify hidden text is far better than keeping visible something that is meant only for machines. And it isn't _really_ hiding anything. The human-readable equivalent text is still very visible, and has exactly the same meaning as the value="something". --Bob. >>> 14 Mar 2008 20:50 Nelson Menezes <microformats- [EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> > On 14/03/2008, Christopher St John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I'd read: > > > > http://tantek.com/log/2005/06.html#d03t2359 > > That is a good read, and a good point. I concede that you really don't > want to use hidden data unless there is a good case for it. > > > then spend a bit of time looking through the mailing list and chat > > logs (google with site:microformats.org is helpful) > > I did, but I can't find anything referring specifically to this > scenario. Apologies if I'm a bit thick! If you know of a specific > talk/page I'm happy to read it... > > > Short version: If you gotta hide stuff (like ISO dates), then hide > > them very, very close to the visible representation on the page of > > the thing you're hiding. > > Agreed. And when there are relevant (i.e. semantically meaningful) > tags or tag attributes that should be the way to go. If, however, > there aren't or they cause significant side-effects, I think that > carefully-thought-through use of <input type="hidden" /> fields could > be a good option. > > The ISO date seems like one of these scenarios: the usage of the > <abbr> title attribute makes sense but has practical disadvantages > that (in my opinion) will actually hinder its adoption. For instance, > many designers would dislike the idea of non-human-friendly tooltips > scarring their websites (and so might want to opt out of using the > microformat). More importantly, there's the well-documented > accessibility issue with screen readers. > > So I would suggest something like this as the simplest approach for a > date pattern: > > <span class="date">March 14th<input type="hidden" value="2008-03-14" > /></span> > > Is it hidden data? Yes, but so is the title attribute in an <abbr> > tag. This is maybe slightly more "hidden", but I think it's a good > compromise. > > -- > Nelson Menezes > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > _______________________________________________ > microformats-new mailing list > [email protected] > http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-new -- -- -- -- Bob Jonkman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://sobac.com/sobac/ SOBAC Microcomputer Services Voice: +1-519-669-0388 6 James Street, Elmira ON Canada N3B 1L5 Cel: +1-519-635-9413 Software --- Office & Business Automation --- Consulting _______________________________________________ microformats-new mailing list [email protected] http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-new
