HTML AccessibilityOriginally published February 2020, updated in March 2021. Updated again today after reading web standards fantasy It’s actually been longer (I remember being introduced to the outline algorithm in 2007), but 12 years is a number worth signifying. In 2020 2021 2022 as it was in 2010 the HTML specification defines an outline algorithm and […]
updated August 21st 2023 Like aria-label, aria-labelledby provides the opportunity for a developer to expose a short text string as the accessible name for an element. The mechanism to do so differs. While aria-label accepts a string of text, aria-labelledby accepts 1 or more id values (NOT a STRING OF TEXT). The same opportunity is […]
aria-owns is surprisingly strong magic aria-owns allows developers to restructure the parent-child relationships in the accessibility tree. This means that screen reader users may experience a different semantic structure and meaning to other users when they navigate and interact with content using their screen readers virtual/browse mode. Accessibility Tree Tree of accessible objects that represents […]
Emojis Emojis are derived from Unicode symbols Unicode symbols do not have inbuilt text alternatives. They are exposed in the browser accessibility tree as a text symbol: The text alternatives for Unicode symbols are usually contained within a text file in screen reading software’s program files directory. For example the JAWS 2021 file for (English […]
Adrian is displeased, as he dislikes people referring to a HTML attribute as something it clearly is not alt=”” empty, null <img src=”decor.jpg” alt=””> With the alt attribute you can provide a text alternative to represent the meaning of the visual content in an <img> in the context of its use or to signify the […]
Why does CSS text get announced by screen readers? Because it’s included as text in the accessibility tree in modern browsers. See the Pen CSS text example by steve faulkner (@stevef) on CodePen. Accessibility Tree Tree of accessible objects that represents the structure of the user interface (UI). Each node in the accessibility tree represents […]
manifest – to show something clearly, through signs or actions. I recently opened an online store HTMLZ (HTML Zed) selling mainly t-shirts. People have been asking my motivations, so here they are: (mostly) Get the accessibility, usability and web standards message out there. Create some designs on shirts I have wanted myself, celebrate my friendships, […]
I asked 3 of the industries most trusted accessibility gurus the question: Is the title attribute still the most reliable method to provide an accessible name for an iframe? Their collective response *assumed Expectations Use of aria-label results in the same output as title as both, in this case, can provide an accessible name for […]
While on holidays I have been pondering a question Why can’t ARIA interactive roles be focusable by default like their HTML counterparts? The HTML specification states the following: Modulo platform conventions, it is suggested that the following elements should be considered as focusable areas and be sequentially focusable: a elements that have an href attribute […]
Preserving what is important from the transient bits and bytes of the interwebs. Photo by Patrick H lauke Sometimes useful things on the web disappear, but in some cases they are preserved in HTML by the WayBack machine. 2 such articles (written by me) from the W3C HTML Wiki are re-birthed here: Use h1 to […]