HTML-AAM: should <dfn> map to aria role=term?

[jasonkiss]

From @cyns on January 12, 2016 18:37

Copied from original issue: w3c/aria#144

[jasonkiss]

I don't think so. <dfn> represents the defining instance of a term, while the definition role represents the definition of a term or concept. However, we might want to map to role=term (ARIA1.1) depending on how that role gets mapped

[jasonkiss]

See related ARIA issue #455

[joanmarie]

@jasonkiss, regarding this:

However, we might want to map to role=term (ARIA1.1) depending on how that role gets mapped

I'm thinking we do.

[jasonkiss]

Thanks, @joanmarie. I'd sure like to.

I see that the ATK mapping for the term role is ATK_ROLE_DESCRIPTION_TERM, whose definition is "An object that represents the term, or name, part of a term-description group in a description list."

Doesn't that definition assign the term role some list semantics, even if only description-list? I see that you closed related ARIA issue#455, so perhaps I'm misreading/misunderstanding? As I read the current term role mappings, it's now just ATK that has list-related semantics for term .

[jasonkiss]

I should add that, while the ARIA spec indicates the term role as being conceptually related to the HTML dt element, the definition of the term role doesn't include any mention of lists, definition/description or otherwise.

[joanmarie]

@jasonkiss: If need be, I can update the ATK docs. I didn't see creating a brand new ATK role when this existing role would do. Then poof! No more list semantics. 😄 Would that address your concerns?

[joanmarie]

@jasonkiss: The ATK documentation has just been updated via the following commit: https://git.gnome.org/browse/atk/commit/?id=4a2632d. Please note that this change will not show up in the official docs until a new ATK release is done. That won't be too long, but you may have a few weeks to wait. If you must have the change show up in the web-based developer docs before you feel comfortable proceeding, let me know and I'll see if I can convince my colleague to do a special release for you.

Related to the above: The change will show up in the "unstable" docs first. That URL is: https://developer.gnome.org/atk/unstable/AtkObject.html#AtkRole (i.e. s/stable/unstable/). For it to show up in the URL for "stable", you'll need to wait until at the end of the current release cycle.

[jasonkiss]

@joanmarie: Amazing! That's great, and totally works for me. Thank you. Have updated dfn mappings accordingly to point to term role mappings for all APIs. Closing.