RE: Do text nodes, e.g. paragraphs have an "Accessible Name"

Hi,

No, the term accessible name does not just apply to interactive elements, but only certain roles accept name from content as a valid naming mechanism.

 

I’m travelling at the moment so can’t look this up, but if you go to the ARIA spec and look up the role “Heading”, you will see at the end of that section a table that starts with “Name from”, and if it says “Content” then this role supports name from content as a valid naming mechanism. 

 

All other roles listed there have a similar table to identify which ones support this method and others that don’t, and these are not specific to only interactive elements.

 

Happy to help further when I get back. 😊 

 

All the best,

Bryan

 

 

From: Taliesin Smith <talilief@gmail.com> 
Sent: Friday, November 1, 2024 7:29 AM
To: Bryan Garaventa <bryan.garaventa@whatsock.com>
Cc: bryan rasmussen <rasmussen.bryan@gmail.com>; WAI IG <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: Re: Do text nodes, e.g. paragraphs have an "Accessible Name"

 

Hi Bryan,

 

Thanks for your comment and guidance.

 

I am trying to understand if the inner text content or Inner left text as some browsers call it of elements like paragraphs, divs, spans, block quotes - elements that are not directly interactive - becomes the accessible name of the content-like elements or if the term “accessible name” is reserved specifically for interactive elements like a button, checkbox, slider, etc.

 

I understand that an accessible name can be provided through diverse techniques, some preferred over other.

 

Is inner content for non-interactive elements ever considered to be an accessible name?

 

Taliesin

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Taliesin L. Smith
talilief@gmail.com <mailto:talilief@gmail.com>  

taliesin.smith@colorado.edu <mailto:taliesin.smith@colorado.edu>  

Inclusive Design Research Specialist
PhET Interactive Simulations
http://phet.colorado.edu/
Department of Physics
University of Colorado, Boulder

 

 

 

 





On Oct 26, 2024, at 09:00, Bryan Garaventa <bryan.garaventa@whatsock.com <mailto:bryan.garaventa@whatsock.com> > wrote:

 

Hi,

No, paragraphs, divs, and spans do not receive accessible names. Many static elements that have implicit roles do though, such as a heading. Typically this happens by itself in the background for such things like headings since they receive ‘name from content’.

 

If unclear, you can use this page to test it.

https://whatsock.github.io/w3c-alternative-text-computation/Editable%20Live%20Input%20AccName%20Test.html

 

E.G. This results in no accessible name.

 

<p id="test" aria-label="Something" > Content </p>

 

However this does result in the accessible name: “Something”

 

<p role="heading" id="test" aria-label="Something" > Content </p>

 

Note this can be dangerous though, because now the content is inaccessible.

 

Please be very careful when applying aria-label and aria-labelledby to elements. It’s always good to test them first to be sure.

 

All the best,

Bryan

 

On Fri, Oct 25, 2024 at 8:37 PM Taliesin Smith <talilief@gmail.com <mailto:talilief@gmail.com> > wrote:

Dear Interest Group Members,

 

I have always thought of an "accessible name" as required content for an interactive thing like a button or a checkbox or slider, etc.

 

Do text elements like paragraphs, headings, list items have accessible names, that is if there is no added aria-label attribute.

 

Developers on our team are abstracting / simplifying our current API that builds accessibility into our interactive simulations. The plan is to make the API very simple, like everything gets an accessible name. This seemed a little odd to me, as I have never thought of a paragraph as having an accessible name.

 

Do text nodes have accessible names by default?

 

Taliesin

 

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Taliesin L. Smith
talilief@gmail.com <mailto:talilief@gmail.com>  

taliesin.smith@colorado.edu <mailto:taliesin.smith@colorado.edu>  

Inclusive Design Research Specialist
PhET Interactive Simulations
http://phet.colorado.edu/
Department of Physics
University of Colorado, Boulder