WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Is the declaration "Document" that aria role="document" says to a screen reader ever confusing?

for

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Feb 4, 2015 2:41PM

role document is to define a browsable area in an application region.
For a small dialog with a short message and a couple of buttons it is
not necessary. It was strongly recommended due to an NVDA bug that did
not enable users to turn off application mode while dialog was open
)this was fixed back in early 2014 or even late 2013, typical
responsive NVDA fashion), and now role document does very little for
any screen reader, and I usually recommend removing it unless the
dialog text is long or contains a lot of detail the user may need to
review and memorize or copy (such as a phone number, id, or similar).
Good rule of thumb for dialog is that it needs a label (via aria-label
or aria-labelledby) and should have an aria-describedby which points
to the dialog message. Focus should land on one of the dialog buttons
when dialog opens, probably the button user is most likely to use.
For a larger dialog with a lot of detail, the dialog message should
receive focus and role document is probably advisable in that
situation.


On 2/4/15, MEJ - Beth Sullivan < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Hello,
>
> The way that the company deals with modal overlays is to have a <div
> role="dialog"><div role="document">...</div></div>.
>
> I believe this was devised to support our IE8 browser requirements. My
> testing team who is doing the accessibility testing noted that the title of
> the modal "Change Record" is followed by the screen reader saying
> "document" because of the role="document".
>
> My question is does this confuse screenreader users. My gut says that
> screenreader users are accustomed to hearing "... Document". I'm not a
> screenreader users though, I would love to hear your perspectives and/or
> other testers' experiences.
>
> Thank you,
> Beth
> > > >


--
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.