[whatwg] title="" attribute

Krzysztof Żelechowski giecrilj at stegny.2a.pl
Mon Nov 19 08:53:02 PST 2007


Dnia 18-11-2007, nie o godzinie 19:21 +0000, James Jeffery napisał(a):
> Hi All.
> 
> Im not sure if this has already been stated, or if its due to change or remain.
> 
> It seems that in HTML 4.01 some browsers render the title attribute in
> anchors as tooltips and assistive devices do not read them by default.
> Now personally assistive devices should read the values within the
> title attribute (of a link) by default.

It is not forbidden.  Ask the vendor for this feature.

> 
> There was a case this week where a developer had his navigation at the
> top of the page. A link from the navigation menu was labeled "My
> Project". To someone using assistive devices they would have to read
> the the page to find out what "My Project" was related to, afterall
> "My Project" could mean: 'My Art Project' or 'My School Project'.

Just like anyone else.

> 
> A friend of mine then pointed out tooltip abuse can make it hard for
> users who magnify the page to browse the site.

Ask the browser vendor not to show tool tips.  It is not mandatory.
Tool tips are tips for tools; they answer the question what happens if
you press the button.  I agree that any other usage is abusive.
However, it is not possible to express this notion precisely in a
technical standard; it should be left to the manual of style.

There is no way the standard could make your provider do just what you
need; the incentives to do it must me economical to work.

> 
> Its seems like a no win situation. Will there be any method in HTML 5
> to add extra information to links/anchors that assistive devices can
> use? This may be a case for WAI but i thought i would post it here
> anyway.

Ordinary anchor text should be explanatory enough.  When it does not
help, e.g. when it is in Japanese, I usually consult the status bar to
look at the URL and guess what it means.

> 
> Thanks.
> 
> James Jeffery

Yours,
Chris




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