[whatwg] Have tabstrip / tab elements been discussed?

E.J. Zufelt lists at zufelt.ca
Sat Aug 28 15:46:37 PDT 2010


On 2010-08-28, at 6:40 PM, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:

> On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 3:32 PM, E.J. Zufelt <lists at zufelt.ca> wrote:
>> It is important to provide semantic markup for complex UI controls where they are common, tabstrip/tab is one example of a common UI component that requires markup.  This way meaningful information about the role of the component can be communicated to UAs.  Particularly important for users who access the web non-visually, and who cannot rely upon the visual affordances of styled lists made to look like a tabstrip.
> 
> The semantics of a tab strip is simply "several sections with
> headers".  That is, the following:
> 
I would disagree with this.  There is a meaning in a tabstrip greater than a list of elements.  Namely, 1. tabs act within an inferred context (a list item may completely change the context), 2. A single tab is selected (possibly 0 to many, but usually 1).

> <cardstack>
>  <tabs>
>    <tab>First one</tab>
>    <tab>Second one</tab>
>    <tab>Third one</tab>
>  </tabs>
>  <cards>
>    <card>I'm the first card</card>
>    <card>I'm the second card</card>
>    <card>I'm the third card</card>
>  </cards>
> </cardstack>
> 
> ...is semantically equivalent to one or the other of the following:
> 
> <section>
>  <h1>First one</h1>
>  I'm the first card.
> </section>
> <section>
>  <h1>Second one</h1>
>  I'm the second card
> </section>
> <section>
>  <h1>Third one</h1>
>  I'm the third one
> </section>
> 
> <nav>
>  <ul>
>    <li><a href=#one>First one</a></li>
>    <li><a href=#two>Second one</a></li>
>    <li><a href=#three>Third one</a></li>
>  </ul>
> </nav>
> <section id=one>I'm the first one</section>
> <section id=two>I'm the second one</section>
> <section id=three>I'm the third one</section>
> 
> 
> You can choose which is more appropriate for your particular usage.
> Turning either of those into a cardstack visually is the job of CSS.
> 
> ~TJ




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