[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #26504: Semantic elements for non-link links

[WordPress Trac]

#26504: Semantic elements for non-link links
----------------------------+--------------------------------
 Reporter:  GaryJ           |       Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)    |      Status:  closed
 Priority:  normal          |   Milestone:
Component:  Administration  |     Version:  3.8
 Severity:  normal          |  Resolution:  invalid
 Keywords:  close           |     Focuses:  ui, accessibility
----------------------------+--------------------------------
Changes (by afercia):

 * focuses:  accessibility => ui, accessibility


Comment:

 Divs, spans that behave like buttons should be buttons for sure but
 thinking about links, as I see it we have two different cases:
 - links that should be buttons and already look like buttons
 - links that should be buttons but current design choices want to look
 like links

 Ideally, we should ''serve all users the same content'' and just change
 them in buttons, for example:

 [[Image(https://cldup.com/Aqe453FDmO.png)]]

 Or, to keep the current visual, add to the second ones an ARIA
 `role="button"`. Visually, they will look like links but their semantics
 would be "button". Worth nothing screen readers won't list them as links
 and they will announce them as (based on the example below):
 > Cancel button

 [[Image(https://cldup.com/Lkjd26iIXD.png)]]

 BTW this would work just for screen reader users. We would end up serving
 content with different semantics to different users. Not sure this is a
 good thing, fair way to say I'm pretty convinced it would be bad.

 A third way could be trying to "fake" buttons with CSS to make them look
 like links, trying to rebuild hover/focus states. I'm not a big fan of
 this and not even sure it can be done.

 Any thoughts and feedback more than welcome, especially from UI and design
 people. The functional part is clear, we need UI feedback :)

--
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/26504#comment:11>
WordPress Trac <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress publishing platform