Do we want to map inline divs as spans and block spans as divs?

[joanmarie]

If an author takes a div and CSSes it into being inline and looking like a span, should it still be mapped as if it were a div? Similarly, if an author turns a span into a block element via CSS so that it functions like it were a div, should it still be mapped as a span?

In other words, do we want to (continue to) base our mapping on the official element, or on how it is functioning? I'm leaning towards the latter, but I think we all need to weigh in and discuss.

Related: As part of ARIA's role parity work, we will be creating a generic role to which div and span (and other block and inline elements) will correspond. The question is how we should map them in the Core-AAM. And we want to be aligned with HTML-AAM.

[stevefaulkner]

@joanmarie if as I suspect display:block vs display:inline is a deciding factor on how they are represented in the accessibility tree, then it makes sense to map them based on these values.

[scottaohara]

We would need to take into consideration other display values too then, no?
e.g. display: inline-block or flex....etc?

Or is it more a question of "inline" vs "not-inline" that we need to be mindful of?

[stevefaulkner]

Doing a quick test of various display values using this https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/playit.asp?filename=playcss_display&preval=inline looks like the are variances across browsers as to effect and yes I think we need to take this into account, to try to get convergence/agreement on effect across browsers.

[JAWS-test]

I don't think it's a good idea to consider CSS properties. So far there has been a relatively clear separation between them:

• HTML code = semantic markup, relevant for assistive technology
• CSS = visual design, not relevant (with a few exceptions like display:none).

I think it would be good to keep this separation. Otherwise it becomes endless: why should display:inline/block/inline-block etc. only be relevant for span and div and not for all other HTML elements. And why only display and not other CSS properties? Like float (see FreedomScientific/standards-support#247). And when span and div get different rules regarding the labeling (#160), it gets even more complex.