In table cell I have a <span> element, that is styled as image and displays state of interface (Enabled/Disabled/Error), based on it's color.
For users with proper vision, it is compact and understandable. I don't want to change it. But as there is no text in this span, it is not read by screen reader. (understandable, but problem)
What is the correct approach to handle such elements for screen readers?
Expected solution would be to add aria-label with text for screen reader, but, as I found in other topics, "aria-label does not work on <div> nor <span>". As I tested it on JAWS 15, it is true, but in JAWS 18 such labels are being read just fine (why?).
Also I tried to add role="img" to this span, and to add text in aria-label and/or alt and/or title with no result in JAWS 15.
What do you mean by "normal users"? Are you talking about sighted users compared to low-vision users? The latter are normal users too.
For low-vision users, yes, an aria-label is normally the way to go. Thank you for considering accessibility issues.
But you'll also have an issue for color deficient users. Those that can't distinguish between certain colors. Is color the only means for conveying the state of the object? Is there an associated icon too? Color-deficient users won't be using a screen reader so won't benefit from an aria-label.
It's not clear in the html or aria specs on the default role of a <span>. The aria-label should be used in the accessible name calculation and step 2D says only if the element is presentational (meaning role='presentation' or role='none') should the aria-label be ignored. So, if a <span> is considered presentational, then its aria-label will be ignored. JAWS seems to be interpreting it this way but NVDA does not. NVDA in firefox will read the aria-label of a <span>.
So your best choice might be to give the <span> a role, such as role='img' or role='note', so that you can give it an aria-label too, but that will also cause the role of the span to be announced.
Or as one commented above, use a real <img> with alt text.
Related
For my study project I'm currently checking an example website for WCAG 2.1 compliance.
Checking it with different tools I still get some Warnings I don't understand or know how to solve.
One of the warnings is "title on non interactive element": I have some title="" attributes on <div>, , and elements and get a Success Criterion 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions warning.
I know the title attribute is not always read by the screen reader. But if I don't expect it to, where's the problem? I even tried to add an aria-label="" with the same content as the title but still get a warning for the title attribute.
<div class="criterion_secion" id="criterion_214" title="Success Criterion '2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts'" aria-label="Success Criterion '2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts'">...</div>
I believe that the warning is given because it’s not expected to have a label or a title on a non-interactive element, like a div.
A div is by nature a non-interactive element. We could make it interactive through the tabindex attribute or by giving it a role. However, I would advice not to do that and just use the div for what it's intended, as a container.
It make sense your tool are flagging title on non interactive element as a warning, because a lot of users can't access to your content in the title attribute. A warning doesn't mean it's automatically a failure.
The aria-label attribute on a div (without role attribute) is useless. This element have no semantic and it's not supposed to have an accessible name.
ARIA & Tooltips: 2 commonly misunderstood attributes
There is a very easy solution to this issue: remove both title and aria-label attributes and include their content that reads "Success Criterion '2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts'" inside the DIV element, if not already included.
aria-label
The aria-label attribute defines a string value that labels an interactive element.
First of all, ARIA is for the screen readers only and it overwrites the accessible name of the element.
For example,
<label for="name" aria-label="surname">Name</label>
<input id="name" type="text" />
will be announced as "surname" and the screen reader user will never understand it is for the input field that collects users' "name".
As for the non-interactive elements, a paragraph never needs any aria-label for the simple reason that you can always include whatever information you want inside it. Besides, it may not be read or may confuse your users as a non-interactive element that acts like an interactive one.
It is also important to know that repeating what is already available as text with an aria-label is simply a nuisance, making the screen reader say the same thing twice or even thrice sometimes, along with a tooltip.
Tooltips
Tooltips are intended for sighted users. They provide some extra information that was not made available elsewhere. Examples from Mozilla.
It is helpful to understand these:
Tooltips are not accessibility features
Repeating what is already available as text using the title attribute helps no one and annoys screen reader users. It is simply bad practice.
Here is a comprehensive resource that will probably make you think twice before using another tooltip: If you want to hide content from mobile and tablet users as well as assistive tech users and keyboard only users, use the title attribute.
I want to have aria-label in span get announced. I did a lot search, found a solution that add role="img". However, in this way, the "image" word will also be announced. I am wondering if there is a hack way to only announce the aria-label or aria-description for span?
For example, I want "123" to be announced:
<span aria-description="123">456</span>
The aria-label is sometimes ignored by some assistive technology if the element you put it on doesn't have any semantic meaning. A <span> doesn't have semantic meaning. If you add a role that is appropriate for your description, then it should be read correctly.
What exactly can aria-label be used on?
I have found documentation that shows it can be used on interactive items (such as <button> for example), but can it be used on any of the following:
<p>, <span>, <li> or <abbr>?
I am trying to have particular words and abbreviations within a paragraph, read out as something specific (eg: Aussies read out as "Ozzies" instead of "Ossies" or "NSW" read out as "New South Wales")
Testing in Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox (all Windows 10) and iPhone Safari (iOS)
You should generally not use aria-label on static content. It's only intended to be used on interactive elements and some sectioning elements.
https://www.w3.org/TR/using-aria/#practical-support-aria-label-aria-labelledby-and-aria-describedby
aria-labelledby and aria-describedby are robustly supported for interactive content elements such as links and form controls including
the many input types.
For most assistive technology it's fine to use aria-label or aria-labelledby on the <nav>, and <main> elements but not on
<footer>, <section>, <article>, or <header> .
There is mixed support for aria-label or aria-labelledby on <aside>.
Talkback on Android overrides the content of all landmarks with aria-label or aria-labelledby.
Its fine to use aria-label or aria-labelledby on div elements with role=navigation, role=search, role=main, JAWS doesn't
support them on role=banner, role=complementary,
role=contentinfo. NVDA, VoiceOver, and Talkback are OK
aria-label, aria-labelledby and aria-describedby work well on table, th and td elements with a few exceptions for NVDA,
VoiceOver on iOS, and Talkback discussed in next section.
Don't use aria-label or aria-labelledby on any heading elements because it overrides them on NVDA, VoiceOver and Talkback. JAWS
ignores them.
Don't use aria-label or aria-labelledby on any other non-interactive content such as p, legend, li, or ul, because
it is ignored.
Don't use aria-label or aria-labelledby on a span or div unless its given a role. When aria-label or aria-labelledby are
on interactive roles (such as a link or button) or an img role, they
override the contents of the div or span. Other roles besides
Landmarks (discussed above) are ignored.
Keep in mind that the above guidance was written in 2018, and support has likely improved among some browsers, but the advice above is still safe, and I would recommend mostly following it.
Thanks to brennanyoung for passing along this great article from Steve Faulkner:
https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2020/11/07/not-so-short-note-on-aria-label-usage-big-table-edition/
It's worth mentioning that the above test results are more recent than the advice given by W3C at the beginning of my post, and it does contradict the W3C advice in some places.
Additional Resources:
http://www.davidmacd.com/blog/does-aria-override-static-backup.html
https://a11ysupport.io/tech/aria/aria-label_attribute
Attributes aria-label and aria-labelledby are typically used and correctly recognized only on interactive elements such a buttons, form fields, links, etc.
They usually don't work, i.e. not read or shown, when they are used on non-interactive elements such as <p>, <div>, <li>.
You can use aria-label or aria-labelledby on a <p>, <li>, but it will work only if it's interactive.
The definition of interactive is quite simple: it means something you can interact with. More technically, it basically means focusable.
Note that with some browsers and/or screen readers, aria-label on elements that aren't naturally focusable may only work when navigating in form mode but not in browse mode.
BY naturally focusable, I mean elements that don't need an explicit tabindex to be interactive.
The element <abbr> is a special case. The expanded meaning must be present in the title attribute and not aria-label.
It's most likely an attribute to help people with disabilities and the elderly. (e.g. screen readers) attach a label to an otherwise anonymous HTML element.
Usually search input field does not have visual label (thanks to designers). aria-label can be used to communicate the label of control to screen reader users.
When user focus on both button(by pressing tab) with area label — you can hear focusing on first x button — will tell you only x button but in case of second x button .. you will hear back to the page button only..
<button title="Close"> X </button>
<button aria-label="Back to the page" title="Close" > X </button>
i hope it helps.
you can read further information here https://www.aditus.io/aria/aria-label/
On my web page, I have a div (shown below), which has text in it that I want to be read by a screen reader.
HTML
<div tabIndex={0}>
"text needs to be read"
</div>
I can hear the text is read without even providing the aria-label. However, I heard "text needs to be read group". I would like to know how can I avoid it saying "group"? I did not put a group role for the div tag.
Another example
This is another example that describes the problem much cleaner
<span class="jw-icon jw-icon-inline jw-button-color jw-reset jw-text-live" tabindex="-1" data-clicked="true">Live</span>
Run the above snippet in any browser. It makes the screen readers to announce it as "Live, group".
Is there any way to mitigate this behaviour. Expected behaviour should be like the screen readers should read it as "Live"
Lots of things going on here.
First of all, all text on a webpage is available to a screen reader and does not need tabindex="0" to make it available to be read. Screen readers provide lots of shortcut keys to navigate to different types of elements (headings, tables, lists, etc). For elements that don't have a direct navigation key, the screen reader user can use the up/down arrow keys to walk the accessibility tree (similar to the DOM).
Secondly, regarding tabindex="0", it should only be set on interactive elements. The tabindex spec says:
authors should only make elements focusable if they act as interactive controls or widgets. In addition, authors should ensure that these focusable elements have an appropriate ARIA role attribute.
And regarding ARIA roles in the second sentence in the spec quote, if your element does receive focus, if it's not a natively focusable element (such as a <a> or <button> or <input>), then it needs to have an appropriate role so that the screen reader user will know how to interact with it.
And related to this, you mentioned aria-label. The aria-label is only honored on elements that have an appropriate role. See "2.10 Practical Support: aria-label, aria-labelledby and aria-describedby".
So given all that, it's a little difficult to answer your question because your simple example is not specific enough. A <div> without a role should not read as "group". Group is usually role="region" (or <section>). The behavior you're hearing may depend on what browser you're using, what screen reader, how you're navigating in with the screen reader (tab or arrow or quicknav key).
Context: Educational ebook (HTML + CSS) publishing
I have a composition title where I have a sentence like this:
<p>This is <del>correct</del> <ins>incorrect</ins></p>
And it is important that the user knows that some text is being deleted and some text is being inserted. I also have a related scenario where text has a highlight applied that has semantic meaning. For instance:
<p>This is an <span class="highlight-blue">adjective</span> and this is a <span class="highlight-red">noun</span>. </p>
I was recommended to use role="region" + aria-label for these situations by an accessibility consultant.
For instance:
<p>This is an <span role="region" aria-label="adjective" class="highlight-blue">adjective</span> and this is a <span role="region" aria-label="noun" class="highlight-red">noun</span>. </p>
The flexibility is necessary here because we are using a standard CSS for all of our titles and sometimes a highlight-red might indicate passive voice or it might indicate a noun, etc.
I have seen in other questions on this site that it is not allowed to use aria-label on span (or div) elements. Also using Chromevox, I have found that the reader will read the aria-label but not the text inside the aria label. (I do not have access to other screen-readers for testing.)
So my question is: What is the best way to have the semantic meaning of these inline elements read to the screen reader user?
Non-viable options
Pseudo-element with CSS hiding. I've seen solutions where you can create a pseudo-element and then hide it offscreen using CSS. When you hide content off-screen, Kindle encounters issues, dropping large chunks of text after the off-screen content, so this is not a viable option.
I would not make the highligting marks a region. That makes them a landmark, which are used to navigate to different areas on the page. The more landmarks you have, the less useful they are (because you'd have to navigate through a bunch of them to get where you want.).
There's a nice article on making highlights and other editing symbols accessible on "Short note on making your mark (more accessible)"
it is not allowed to use aria-label on span (or div) elements
That's not quite accurate. aria-label is a global attribute and can be set on any element. However, the label might be ignored if set on a <div> or <span>. See "2.10 Practical Support: aria-label, aria-labelledby and aria-describedby". In particular, the third last bullet point:
Don't use aria-label or aria-labelledby on a span or div unless its given a role.
So if your <div> or <span> has a role that is appropriate, then the aria-label will be read. But don't assign a role just to get the aria-label read. The role has to make sense.