First try at ARIA role and state markup -- looking for advice

[Joseph Scheuhammer]

Anastasia wrote:
> Currently (and we expect this to be common), the lightbox is being  
> used inside a tool that is inside a portal. Which part of this  
> scenario is 'the application'? Is it the whole portal? My guess is  
> no. Is it the tool? Tools are typically application-like things, so  
> my guess is that a tool in a portal frame is an application in the  
> WAI role sense of the word. Is the lightbox itself an application? It  
> certainly seems to function in that sense, but if it's inside an  
> application, it doesn't seem to need the role itself.
>   

Rich replied:
> If the lightbox is inside an application then the grid does not need a 
> role
> of application - think container. 

Declaring the lightbox as a container makes sense.  However, here is 
another wrinkle.  Ideally, the lightbox is a standalone..."component" 
(for lack of a better term) that can be used anywhere.  As Anastasia 
says, it will be used as part of some greater tool/application/whole, 
and is unlikely ever to stand by itself entirely.

My question then is:  are containers always thought of as a set of 
"components" within an application?  Or, can containers also be used as 
document parts?  I know, I should answer this myself by reading the 
draft specs, but I thought I would just put it out there.  Another way 
of putting it:  is their anything in ARIA that describes something as a 
"component", in the sense of a UI unit that may (or may not) contain 
other UI units?

-- 
;;;;joseph

'Was it a car or a cat I saw?'
  - "Bob", W. A. Yankovic -