Is there a problem with using aria-label <https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/states_and_properties#aria-label> for this use case? It seems like this should do exactly what you're asking for in the given scenario.
On Fri, Oct 6, 2017 at 11:15 AM, Michael A. Peters <mpet...@domblogger.net> wrote: > With images, the alt attribute can and should be used to give a > description of an image for users who can not see the image. > > With text, some glyphs are pictographs that have a meaning. For example, > U+1F502 is a pictograph indicating single loop, but it is meaningless if > you can not see it. > > Even if screen readers can specify the codepoint and/or map the codepoint > to a description (do they?) sometimes fonts define PUA codepoints for > pictograph glyphs that are not official. > > A span element with a title attribute does not always solve this problem, > sometimes the glyph is in a button element that has a title attribute > describing what the button will do rather than the what the current state > is. > > For example, a button may show a single loop indicating the media is > currently in single loop mode but have a title attribute specifying that > pressing it enables continuous loop mode. > > If there was an alt attribute on a span inside the button, screen readers > could treat the span with a pictograph the same way it would treat an image > child of a button attribute and describe the current pictograph to the end > user. > > If there is already a solution to this issue, I apologize, I could not > find one. > > We (er, WhatWG / W3C) could just add alt to the global attribute list too, > rather than just span. Or come up with a semantic pictograph element > specifically for this (just like we have tt and code). > > Thank you for opinions. >
