Request updates to allowed roles for area without href

[scottaohara]

ARIA in HTML is looking to update the allowed roles for area without href from no role to instead allow link and button, only.

[WilcoFiers]

That makes a lot of sense. Any particular reason you wouldn't also allow button on area[href] though @scottaohara?

[scottaohara]

thanks Wilco.

That idea did come up when discussing this change (both in the ARIA WG when they had done the initial review during CR, and when we were discussing after I looked into what other roles might have made sense here).

Essentially, keeping the status quo boils back down to a version of the links vs buttons debate / user expectations of role announcement. If authors need an area to be a role=button, then they would now have this opportunity by not adding, or by removing, the href.

If need be, we can discuss this further in a new issue in ARIA in HTML.

Related issue: w3c/html-aria#187

[WilcoFiers]

Tanks for clarifying. Sounds good.

[padmavemulapati]

Validated with the develop branch axe-core code base,
aria-allowed-role rule allowing the roles for button and 'link area without href