Meeting Summary 2014-12-08

Meeting minutes: http://www.w3.org/2014/12/08-dpub-minutes.html

Main discussions

Structural Semantics a.k.a. Aria @role terms

Tzviya and Markus presented the first set of terms that the corresponding task force will propose to the W3C PF WG a set of Aria @role values for digital publishing. This is a subset of the IDPF Structural Vocabulary, and can be considered as a first set of terms that will, eventually, be adopted as accepted @role values. Other terms, as they come forward, will be added in later cycles.

The set of terms is only a draft at the moment. It has to be cleaned up, a first set of definition for each term has to be provided (based on the existing definition of the IDPF Vocabulary), the terms themselves should be discussed with the PF Group (to avoid, e.g., overlapping terms), and, eventually, the terms should be defined as bona fide PF ARIA terms, including the possible restrictions of their usage (e.g., on which HTML elements should a specific value be used), AT mappings, their hierarchy (using the OWL based terminology that the PF WG uses), etc. This work will happen jointly with the PF Working Group. At the end of the process, the following type of HTML code will be valid:

   <dl role="glossary">

The sub-task force will be led by Markus and Tzviya, with the participation of George; Ivan will also contribute to the OWL based terminology when the time comes.

longdesc attribute review

There is currently a W3C AC vote on the longdesc Proposed Recommendation, meaning that AC reps of W3C members are encouraged to vote on whether this document should become a Recommendation or not. The discussion around this went to two different directions

1. The role of @longdesc, and its relationships to other possible attributes that the PF WG will, eventually, develop is a complex one, and would require further technical discussion. Clarification on the usage of that attribute, it extend and domain of use, etc, are all issues. It is not clear, however, where this discussion should occur, also taking into account that the participation of the Digital Publishing community has been low, at least up to now; more people should work on ARIA 1.1 to move things forward.
2. At this moment, the vote is a "yay or nay", that has to be cast by W3C members. Strictly speaking, it is not the time for technical arguments to occur; that happened in the past (although the history of @longdesc has been long and complicated). At this moment, members have to vote, but this Group is not in position to tell members what position to take.