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Adrian Roselli
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All Posts Tagged: ARIA

Avoid aria-roledescription

HTML has all sorts of built-in features that, when used correctly, are accessible, will localize, and which just work. For example, if I want a button, I use <button>, and a screen reader will announce it as button. For users in other languages, they will hear whatever is their word…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, ARIAbuse, browser, rant, standards, UX

CSUN 2020: CSS Display Properties versus HTML Semantics

While originally I was scheduled to attend CSUN to present two talks one talk, I ended up not attending (my father won A Major Award so I joined him instead). I gave my talk remotely in my scheduled slot (during my father’s award dinner). While I would have loved to…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, css, html, slides, standards

Role-up

transitive verb [ ‘rōl əp ] roled-up, roleing-up, roles-up Definition of role-up To use an ARIA role on an HTML element to change its semantics and/or force it to accept an accessible name (via aria-label, aria-labelledby, or even aria-describedby). To add ARIA roles everywhere without understanding, often via framework or…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, ARIAbuse

Defining ‘Toast’ Messages

In current user interface terms a toast is a message that appears on the screen; it is often short, often appears only briefly, and often animates up from the bottom (like a piece of ghostly yet precisely-crafted toast), though other directions and a fade-in/-out is common. The Name When Google…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, pattern, usability, UX

My Priority of Methods for Labeling a Control

Here is the priority I follow when assigning an accessible name to a control: Native HTML techniques, aria-labelledby pointing at existing visible text, Visibly-hidden content that is still in the page, aria-label. Too often folks will grab ARIA first to provide an accessible name for a thing. Or they may…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, ARIAbuse, css, pattern, usability, UX

aria-label Does Not Translate

As of my 28 January 2024 update at the end of this post, aria-label auto-translation support is seemingly as spotty as when I first wrote this post. It does, actually. Sometimes. One of the big risks of using ARIA to define text content is that it often gets overlooked in…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, ARIAbuse, Chrome, Edge, i18n, L10n

Accessible Drop Caps

Since the early days of the web, when images could be floated and text would wrap around them, designers have wanted to bring drop caps onto the web. Then we learned how terrible a pattern like <img alt=”M” align=”left”>atthew is for users, and CSS introduced :first-letter, letting us believe all…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, css, design, html, pattern, usability, UX, WCAG

Stop Giving Control Hints to Screen Readers

TL;DR: for standard HTML controls and standard ARIA patterns (widgets), you do not need to add instructions for screen readers on how to use them nor what they are. When a screen reader encounters an element on the page that invites interaction beyond reading, it typically provides users with instructions…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, ARIAbuse, browser, html, standards, WCAG

Maybe Ignore type=search

Another case of the headline saying it all. If you have a valid, accessible search field (with a useful, sensible label) then you can probably ignore type=”search” and use type=”text” instead. I made a code sample you can use for testing in your preferred set-up; it is what I used…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, browser, html, standards, usability, UX

Link + Disclosure Widget Navigation

Early in 2017 I filed an issue against WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices (APG) requesting a change to the menu navigation pattern. Despite a great deal of feedback in agreement, it languished. In late 2017 I wrote Don’t Use ARIA Menu Roles for Site Nav and started actively campaigning against the APG…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, html, pattern, standards, usability, UX, WAI, WCAG

Uniquely Labeling Fields in a Table

Many of my clients over the years have relied on fields in tables. Sometimes a checkbox to select a row, sometimes text inputs to update information, sometimes buttons select something. Rarely are they interested in a block of label text above the field, and I cannot disagree with them. The…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, html, pattern, tables, WCAG

Details / Summary Are Not [insert control here]

Once major browsers started supporting <details> & <summary> developers immediately started to play with them to see what sorts of patterns they could enhance or replace. This is a good thing. Experimentation pushes boundaries, improves understanding. However, we need to be careful of christening this new-to-us interaction as the solution…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, html, standards, usability, UX