Align <main> a bit with contemporary AT #3326
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The various examples changed here do not lead to a good experience in existing AT and there's no reason to believe AT will change so it seems best to give different advice.
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cc @whatwg/a11y |
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FWIW, I wrote some additional rationale here (and things to look at to further improve things here): #100 (comment). |
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This looks very good to me, it prioritises user needs. With the removal of |
| <code>main</code> elements. For example, a page with multiple <code>article</code> elements might | ||
| need to indicate the dominant contents of each such element.</p> | ||
| <p class="note">While there is no restriction as to the number of <code>main</code> elements in a | ||
| document, web developers are encouraged to stick to a single element.</p> |
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web developers are encouraged to stick to a single element
Should this say "single visible element" or does that add too much complexity?
One exception to recommending a single <main> could be in a layered web application where background <main> elements are properly rendered inert from AT. Blackboard has a good example of this type of UI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tmBd9USe6g
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Since this is just advice, leaving out the edge cases where multiple elements makes sense to me.
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Yeah, I was hoping to leave more detailed advice up to a future iteration, once we have more agreement on the edge cases.
| <p>The <code>main</code> element can be used as a container for the dominant contents of another | ||
| element. It <span>represents</span> its children.</p> | ||
| <p>The <code>main</code> element can be used as a container for the dominant contents of the | ||
| document. It <span>represents</span> its children.</p> | ||
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| <p class="note">The <code>main</code> element is distinct from the <code>section</code> and |
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Should this mention of no effect on the document outline for <main> be removed like line 17273?
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I only removed it there because I removed main from the example. This example still uses main though.
| <code>main</code> elements. For example, a page with multiple <code>article</code> elements might | ||
| need to indicate the dominant contents of each such element.</p> | ||
| <p class="note">While there is no restriction as to the number of <code>main</code> elements in a | ||
| document, web developers are encouraged to stick to a single element.</p> |
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Since this is just advice, leaving out the edge cases where multiple elements makes sense to me.
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As mentioned in #100 (comment) developers appreciate clarity. I suggest that if devs are being encouraged to stick to one main element a normative SHOULD requirement is appropriate, which will provide a warning in conformance checkers (ping @sideshowbarker) |
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thanks |
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@stevefaulkner I think that's where I want to end up as well, but I was thinking it'd be good to make these improvements first as I expect these to be less controversial. |
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@annevk good to hear, it is only appears controversial because a few owners of the spec have strong opinions, for almost everybody else in the community including dev's and users it is a sensible change to align the definition with expected usage and user agent expression. So i suggest that sooner rather than later would be preferable. This would, make advice/requirements much clearer for devs to the benefit of users. I think it would then resolve #100 after 2 1/2 years and 100+ of comments. To be clear, suggested changes:
I personally can live with the remaining differences in the original definition not being reflected in the whatwg definition and this would provide an opportunity to align the 2 definitions, to reduce confusion. |
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@foolip when we correct prose we don't qualify it as "Editorial", even if it's non-normative prose. "Editorial" is for more trivial changes. |
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@annevk, OK then :) Do you want more review/sign-off of this before merging? |
The various examples changed here do not lead to a good experience in existing AT and there's no reason to believe AT will change so it seems best to give different advice.
/grouping-content.html ( diff )
/iframe-embed-object.html ( diff )
/interactive-elements.html ( diff )
/sections.html ( diff )