WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: "Error feedback MUST be programmatically-associated with the appropriate element"

for

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Sep 27, 2020 11:29AM

Well, I admit my argument is pretty weak (see my use of "I think").
After all Sailesh is one of the jedi masters of accessibility, and one
of the people who taught me what I do know about it.
I still confidently claim that use of aria-describedby to associate
error messages is the best experience:
* It allows users to visually place error messages adjacent to invalid
inputs, important for low vision users and users with cognitive
impairments), using a pop up or links, users do not necessary see the
error message and the invalid form input together, they have to
memorize it.
Note: I filed screen reader bugs for what I term insufficient support
of the ARIA 1.1 aria-errormessage attribute, I need to check in on
those bugs and see if support has improved. Use of aria-describedby is
problematic, because it does not respect the visibility of the error
message, and I repeatedly run into implementation complications with
it. Those would be solved with aria-errormessage, but until it has
sufficient user agent/assistive technology support, thatis of very
limited value.



On 9/26/20, Sailesh Panchang < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Jared's response to the question that started off this thread is most
> accurate IMO.
> And I have to disagree with my friend Birkir when he categorically
> states, "So I think this argument actually holds, that aria-invalid +
> aria-describedby are required for an error message to pass 3.3.1".
> Here is an article, "Using Aria-invalid for Error Indication" I wrote
> before I wrote up the first draft for the technique ARIA21. The
> examples and some text in the technique are from the blog article I
> had written.
> Blog article:
> https://www.deque.com/blog/aria-invalid-error-indication/
> ARIA21: aria-invalid
> https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/aria/ARIA21
>
> Best wishes,
>
> --
> Join me at axe-con 2021: a free digital accessibility conference. Read more
> at
> https://www.deque.com/axe-con/
> Feel free to contact Deque marketing if you have any questions. Thanks!
>
> Sailesh Panchang
> Principal Accessibility Consultant
> Deque Systems Inc
> 381 Elden Street, Suite 2000, Herndon, VA 20170
> Mobile: 571-344-1765
> > > > >


--
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.