Accordion landmark region proliferation clarity

[ZackEvansTR]

Bullet 6, sub-bullet 1 of the WAI-ARIA Roles, States, and Properties section states:

Avoid using the region role in circumstances that create landmark region proliferation, e.g., in an accordion that contains more than approximately 6 panels that can be expanded at the same time.

I don't think I fully grasp the technique implied here. Let's say we have an accordion with ten pairs of header/panels that can be expanded simultaneously. My initial thought would be to not use region landmarks for any of the panels because the potential for landmark proliferations exists. The more I thought about, it even though proliferation potential is there proliferation is dependent on a user expanding panels, so my reading of this became skewed towards using region landmarks for the six most recently expanded panels, while removing the landmark region from previously expanded panels. While this mitigates proliferation while maintaining potentially beneficial landmark regions it does feel very arbitrary which leads me to believe my initial thought was the correct interpretation.

Is the intention to not use landmarks at all when more than six can be expanded or to try add/remove the region landmarks depending on how the user interacts with the accordion? Thanks.

[css-meeting-bot]

The ARIA Authoring Practices (APG) Task Force just discussed Issue 3307: Clarifying language about landmark region proliferation.

The full IRC log of that discussion

<jugglinmike> Topic: Issue 3307: Clarifying language about landmark region proliferation
<jugglinmike> github: https://github.com//issues/3307
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: This is in the accordion example
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: We have some guidance there which states that you should avoid using landmark regions for the accordion panel if there could be more than six panels open at the same time
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: Our explanation for this is "landmark proliferation"--that there would be too many landmarks on the page
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: The issue's author is asking what this would mean in practice
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: When I go to the "landmarks" practice, we actually don't talk about landmark proliferation anywhere on the practices page
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: There was a question here--what if there were twelve? Would you use landmark regions only for the first six?
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: We have three sections in our accordion
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: When it was first developed, only one region could be opened at the same time. We've since changed that so any number can now be opened
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: The first question is: should we be recommending the use of a region at all within the accordion?
<jugglinmike> Siri: I think if you're marking the according as a button and there is a heading, is there really a requirement to use a region?
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: Nope
<jugglinmike> Siri: I think having a region is not needed. That is my opinion
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: Any other thoughts on this? Are people, in your pattern libraries--do you have accordions?
<jugglinmike> arigilmore: Yes, we have an accordion
<jugglinmike> Adam_Page: Yes, we have accordions, too, and we do not use regions in them
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: Do you use any grouping?
<arigilmore> carbon does not use regions either
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: In the example you just created, Adam_Page, we used "article". That was a container that separates one card from another
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: Since these always have headings, we don't necessarily need regions to delineate
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: Do you use articles or groups or anything to denote the expandable part--the part that's controlled by the button? Or does your button just point to a "div" element that expands or collapses?
<jugglinmike> arigilmore: We just use "aria-controls" and "aria-expanded"
<jugglinmike> Adam_Page: Same for us; we don't use any kind of grouping mechanism
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: I think, because of the presence of the headings, I'm inclined to think that's adequate
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: If you have a heading structure, then whatever is after the accordion would presumably have a heading
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: In our case, if we have level-3 headings in the accordion, then when the very last section is collapsed, one would expect that the next heading after the according is a level-2 heading.
<jugglinmike> Siri: While we're on the topic of accordion--do you ever see accordions with actions beyond "expand" and "collapse", eg. "copy"?
<jugglinmike> Siri: I've seen that on marketing sites
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: That would be a good application of the new "disclosure card" pattern--the one that Adam_Page just completed
<jugglinmike> Matt_King: We're out of time for the day, but the next step here is to decide whether we want to get rid of the regions
<jugglinmike> Zakim, end the meeting