Confession time: I am (part of) the reason the ARIA Practices Guide looks so deceptively authoritative.[0]

Confession time: I am (part of) the reason the ARIA Practices Guide looks so deceptively authoritative.[0]

When I worked on the @w3c / @wai accessibility tutorials[1], we were approached by the ARIA people to write an ARIA tutorial. Now, the tutorials did already make use of ARIA in enhancing native controls. (1/4)

Their proposal started with what became the “Button Pattern”[2], basically how to make a div a fully functional button. This did not mesh with what we wanted for the tutorials at all: We wanted to show how easy it can be to use the platform directly. That’s the reason the wacky “Custom Controls”[3] page exists. (2/4)

APG was a spec-looking Group note back in the day, and after we asked for more HTML-based guidance, enhancing instead of replacing native elements, the APG was later relaunched in the form it is today. As a tutorial-like resource, that looks like it could be part of the WAI website, despite being a Working Group resource.

(Needless to say that they are using a lot of graphics and icons, elements that are great for readers but have never been really prioritized on the main WAI site.) (3/4)

So, that’s the story of how I kinda butterfly-effected the APG (in its current form) in existance. My bad!

[0] See @stefan’s article here: https://www.stefanjudis.com/notes/notes-on-relying-on-the-aria-authoring-practices-guide/ (warning: unstoppable animation when leaving the tab in the background too long) or @aardrian’s article here: https://adrianroselli.com/2019/02/uncanny-a11y.html#APG
[1] https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/
[2] https://www.w3.org/WAI/ARIA/apg/patterns/button/
[3] https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/forms/custom-controls/ (4/4)

So, that’s the story of how I kinda butterfly-effected the APG (in its current form) in existance. My bad!

[0] See @stefan’s article here: https://www.stefanjudis.com/notes/notes-on-relying-on-the-aria-authoring-practices-guide/ (warning: unstoppable animation when leaving the tab in the background too long) or @aardrian’s article here: https://adrianroselli.com/2019/02/uncanny-a11y.html#APG
[1] https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/
[2] https://www.w3.org/WAI/ARIA/apg/patterns/button/
[3] https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/forms/custom-controls/ (4/4)

@yatil @stefan @aardrian What do you think: How big would the effort be to fix them?
How many people how many hours?

@MoritzGlantz @yatil @stefan @aardrian Having seen the discussions around adding a warning note or not to "sell" the menu pattern as a navigation (initiated by @aardrian ) via GitHub discussion, I'd say: Really big

@marcus @MoritzGlantz This is a political issue, not an effort issue. You would need to convince ARIA WG that it needs to change. But it does what ARIA wants, so there is no incentive to make changes.

So, that’s the story of how I kinda butterfly-effected the APG (in its current form) in existance. My bad!

[0] See @stefan’s article here: https://www.stefanjudis.com/notes/notes-on-relying-on-the-aria-authoring-practices-guide/ (warning: unstoppable animation when leaving the tab in the background too long) or @aardrian’s article here: https://adrianroselli.com/2019/02/uncanny-a11y.html#APG
[1] https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/
[2] https://www.w3.org/WAI/ARIA/apg/patterns/button/
[3] https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/forms/custom-controls/ (4/4)

@yatil @marcus Okay, if one would do it the usual way of discussing it all with the community.
If one would copy the page, a group of 5 people made the changes they think must be made and publish it as an alternative version, people then can use and hate?

That may be the only way out…

@MoritzGlantz @marcus How would that be published on the W3C site and done by the ARIA WG? That’s what gives it the credibility. Forking it will just create another resource that won’t be kept up.

@yatil @marcus It would not be published there in the first place,… maybe I am too naive to understand the reach and impact of this. But if nothing moves, what to do?

@MoritzGlantz @marcus There is nothing to do apart from complaining to the working group.

@MoritzGlantz @marcus I mean, you could help improve the tutorials, but I don’t know how that would work after W3C/WAI has dissolved the Education and Outreach WG (EOWG). They have kneecapped educational material at WAI a lot, now staff has to do it without a WG to back them up, and hence it is all slow.

@MoritzGlantz @marcus I think this is the Community Group that is supposed to continue the work on the WAI resources, but as you can see from their GitHub, there is little momentum. https://www.w3.org/community/adva11yresources/