Suggest change to aria-current step (not only a link)

[LaurenceRLewis]

The Specification for aria-current=Step
"A step token used to indicate a link within a step indicator for a step-based process, where the link is visually styled to represent the current step."

Both aria-current page and step are described in the normative text of the specification as associate with links. It is more lightly that aria-current page will be applied to a link, however this is not necessarily the case, for example, the current page in a breadcrumb is usually not linked. Arguably aria-current location should be used for a breadcrumb, but, you will find that 'page' is used more than 'location' on breadcrumbs.

The problem I see is that aria-current step may not be linked, and this would be an acceptable pattern, for example, a progress bar showing the current step in a purchase journey, in my experience, is not usually linked.

I recommend that the Spec for 1.2 be changed to "A step token used to indicate a step within a progress indicator for a step-based process, where the element is visually styled to represent the current step."

Would like to see a discussion on extending this to other values on inactive elements.

Reference
Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.2 > aria-current (state)

[LaurenceRLewis]

aria current has a lot of inconsistencies in how screen readers and browsers announce and support the different values.
I set-up a Codepen to test the aria-current values.

• aria-current AT and Browser support

[cookiecrook]

AFAICT, that browser support page has errors, or is out of date.

• The Mac tests list a version from several years ago, which I did not test, but the current version: macOS 12.x renders each as intended.
• The iOS tests list a recent version, but the results seem wrong, or it was a very recent fix. I'm on a slightly newer release of 15 and it's working as intended.

Here's another test that demos the list of values. https://demos.tink.uk/aria-current/

[cookiecrook]

That said, I think the suggestion to remove the mention of "link" from the value is a good change.

Thanks @LaurenceRLewis.

[LaurenceRLewis]

@cookiecrook Note that the examples from Léonie Watson (Tink) are mostly placed on active (Link) roles, which work across the board, although there us some potential confusion with how NVDA announces some values.

When placed on inactive elements, such as List items, aria-current has no to variable support.
I need to update my findings for Mozilla Firefox on Windows, and retest macOS Safari making sure I use the VO keys.
Otherwise all results are accurate using latest versions.

[cookiecrook]

Is there a test case that demonstrates all the problems you mentioned? The code pen looked like it contained results but without the actual test cases. Thanks.

[LaurenceRLewis]

@cookiecrook Do you have an example of test cases and results format so that I can improve the Codepen?

[cookiecrook]

By test case, I just mean HTML examples that can be used to demonstrate the problems.

[LaurenceRLewis]

@cookiecrook I updated the Pen with the HTML Test cases.
https://codepen.io/Deafinitive/pen/wvqJQxd

[cookiecrook]

Thanks for the bug reports. I don't think those affect this PR though. Can be merged.