RE: Accessible name definition

Hi,
I can probably help with this, I'm one of the editors for the AccName spec.

An accessible name literally refers to any element that supports the exposure of an accessible name within the accessibility tree. This is also true for the description.

If you think about the web, and anything that you interact with using a screen reader within any application or within the native OS, nothing anywhere would be accessible if it did not have an accessible name. It is at the core of everything that has to do with accessibility.

There are many elements and controls that are structural and provide context that do not need explicit names, and many times these names are automatically generated based on their content where applicable. Headings work like this, also buttons, links, and many others. Other element types require explicit names to be assigned, such as input elements, images, and so on.

Accessible names also apply as part of the recursion algorithm for naming. For example, when computing the name for a heading, all of the accessible names that are included within that heading are computed and compiled, taking into account not just the textual content, but also any embedded control types or uses of aria-label and so on, all of which are computed separately before being added to the root name for that element.

So basically, if you use a utility like Object Inspector
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/winauto/inspect-objects?redirectedfrom=MSDN

You can examine the accessibility tree to see everything that includes an accessible name. This doesn't mean that assistive technologies will always announce everything that does have one, which can be confusing at times.

Hopefully this makes sense, it's a complex topic.

All the best,
Bryan

Bryan Garaventa
Principal Accessibility Architect
Level Access, Inc.
Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com<mailto:Bryan.Garaventa@LevelAccess.com>
415.624.2709 (o)
www.LevelAccess.com<http://www.levelaccess.com/>

From: Ms J <ms.jflz.woop@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, April 8, 2022 3:22 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Accessible name definition

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Hello,

Please can you provide some clarity on what counts as an 'accessible name'.

The definition says

The accessible name is the name of a 'user interface element'.
https://www.w3.org/TR/accname-1.1/#glossary

But then the name computation mentions the name of 'accessible objects' and tasks about headings having accessible names:
https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-1.1/#namecomputation

I mainly just want to make sure I'm using terminology correctly. I appreciate there are other widgets and roles that are not 'user interface components' that do support or require an accessible name, such as regions or tabpanels. However, there are some that don't require them such as a rule of 'list' - this isn't on the list of roles supporting name from content, but wouldn't generally require an aria-label or anything explicitly defining the accessible name.

I associate accessible names with anything I would use the aria-label attribute on. I would not usually refer to an empty heading as having no 'accessible name' and would not tend to use an aria-label on one.

Some clarity would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

Sarah