Should aria-haspopup allow tooltip as a supported token value?

[accdc]

The following is stated within the ARIA spec for aria-haspopup,
https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-1.2/#aria-haspopup

"A tooltip is not considered to be a popup in this context."

I was asked recently though, why can't aria-haspopup="tooltip" be used to convey when an element has an attached ARIA tooltip?

Besides saying it's not supported, I can't think of a valid reason why not. Many times I've run across active elements that have attached tooltips, and nothing is conveyed to non-sighted screen reader users to convey this.

So, I'm filing this to raise the question: Why should tooltip not be allowed as a supported token value for aria-haspopup?

[scottaohara]

and nothing is conveyed to non-sighted screen reader users to convey this

wouldn't that mean that the developers have not properly associated the tooltip content with the invoking element with aria-describedby?

From the tooltip definition:

Authors SHOULD ensure that elements with the role tooltip are referenced through the use of aria-describedby before or at the time the tooltip is displayed.

That said, I think this could well be discussed in regards to existing issues #979 (clarify the use of role=tooltip, since aria-describedby is really the attribute doing all the work here and the tooltip role is kinda pointless right now) and #1024, (clarify the usage of aria-haspopup).

But per the immediate question of a valid reason why not, I'd point to the text I quoted from the tooltip's definition.

[smhigley]

I can think of two reasons off the top of my head why this might be confusing or not work in practice:

1. aria-haspopup currently points to popups that appear when the user performs an action on the control. Usually the primary action (in the case of buttons), or the typing/alt+down arrow for inputs. Tooltips appear on hover or focus, and are generally not interactive. Assuming the tooltip text is still associated with the control through aria-describedby, it is unclear what additional information the user would gain through aria-haspopup, and what action they would be able to do based on the existence of a tooltip popup being communicated.

2. We would then need to deal with multiple tokens in aria-haspopup values, since there's no reason a combobox or button w/ popup couldn't also have a tooltip

[accdc]

The points that Sarah raised seem most valid to me, since I could have a tab that opens an ARIA Menu, like this one
http://whatsock.com/tsg/Coding%20Arena/ARIA%20Menus/Variation%20ARIA%20Tabs%20With%20Right%20Click/demo.htm

Or even role=textbox, like this one
http://whatsock.com/tsg/Coding%20Arena/ARIA%20Menus/Variation%20Simulated%20Edit%20With%20Right%20Click/demo.htm

And I could also add a tooltip that hovers near the tab or textbox when it receives focus or onmouseover, and it would be impossible to convey everything using aria-haspopup.

It seems like this would cause too many conflicts to be viable.

[jnurthen]

@accdc do you want to close this?

[accdc]

Thanks, will do.