On 3/2/09 2:00 PM, "Mathew Robertson" <[email protected]> wrote: > So now a slight rant... I dont understand how: > > <span role="aria-checkbox" ....> > > is better than: > > <input type="checkbox" ...> > > ?
Okay, this is a good question. The answer is that people often use nonsemantic HTML, and that's a trend which, if anything, has increased with modern web app development. Some people have developed controls (like sliders, or tri-state checkboxes) which didn't exist in HTML, and others have created controls which look and act like checkboxes, for example, which have been done in some way other than <input type="checkbox">. Look at the Atlas project that was unveiled this week, as an example. The way I understand it, they're going to throw semantic HTML out the window and focus explicitly on visual design. ( Now, we can stand on the sidelines and say don't do that, but look how far that's gotten us. However, using ARIA we can (in theory, since I haven't actually seen the code Atlas generates yet) pick a component and say, that blob of goo over there is a checkbox, that one is a listbox, that's a combobox, those are menu items, and on and on. And since assistive technology understands all of these roles, it can explain them to the user, and broker the user's manipulation of those objects. Which isn't to say that for your basic form you should use exclusively ARIA markup. Everything already in HTML uses those same roles. Semantic code is still useful. ARIA just opens up those roles to other implementations, and enables accessibility on widgets that HTML doesn't offer. - m ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [email protected] *******************************************************************
