[svg-aam] svg-aam: what should the implicit role of the <svg> element be? (#44)

• From: Mark Rogers via GitHub <noreply@w3.org>
• Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2026 18:12:36 +0000
• To: public-svg-issues@w3.org
• Message-ID: <issues.opened-3964332118-1771346742-noreply@w3.org>

dd8 has just created a new issue for https://github.com/w3c/svg-aam:

== svg-aam: what should the implicit role of the <svg> element be? ==
Currently the implicit role of  the `<svg>` element is browser dependent

Chrome: exposed in a11y tree as implicit role=image
Firefox: exposed in a11y tree  as implicit role=graphics-document
Safari: only exposed in a11y tree as implicit role=generic if the element has an accessible name (not exposed otherwise)

Test cases:

```
                <!-- implicit role Chrome role=image, Firefox role=graphics-document, Safari not exposed if no accname  -->
                <svg height="100" width="100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 100 100">
                <circle cx="50" cy="50" r="40" stroke="black" stroke-width="3" fill="red" />
                </svg>

                <!-- implicit role Chrome role=image, Firefox role=graphics-document, Safari not exposed if no accname  -->
                <svg height="10" width="10" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 100 100">
                <circle cx="50" cy="50" r="40" stroke="black" stroke-width="3" fill="red" />
                </svg>  
                
                <!-- implicit role Chrome role=image, Firefox role=graphics-document, Safari exposed as generic/group if has accname, not exposed if no accname  -->
                <svg height="100" width="100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 100 100">
                <circle cx="50" cy="50" r="40" stroke="black" stroke-width="3" fill="red" />
                <title>Acc Name</title>
                </svg>

                <!-- implicit role Chrome role=image, Firefox role=graphics-document, Safari exposed as generic/group if has accname, not exposed if no accname  -->
                <svg height="10" width="10" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 100 100">
                <circle cx="50" cy="50" r="40" stroke="black" stroke-width="3" fill="red" />
                <title>Acc Name</title>
                </svg> 
```




Please view or discuss this issue at https://github.com/w3c/svg-aam/issues/44 using your GitHub account


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Received on Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:12:37 UTC