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Browsers and the accessibility tree

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From: Jackson, Derek J
Date: Mar 2, 2020 2:01PM

Hello,

I have a technical question about how a browser creates an accessibility tree. I am having a hard time finding anything that provides many details about how this works aside from it being a parallel structure to the DOM. I have found some references to the Accessibility tree getting built from the render tree, or based on the DOM, or as part of the layout/reflow process right before painting. Does anyone know of a resource they could point me to about the technical process that is used to build the accessibility tree in a browser? Or does anyone know off hand at what stage in the rendering engine the accessibility tree is created and from what model? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Derek

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Derek Jackson

Digital Accessibility Developer | Digital Accessibility Services
Harvard University Information Technology
1430 Massachusetts Ave, 4th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02138

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