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Thread: WCAG guideline for too much ARIA

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Number of posts in this thread: 5 (In chronological order)

From: Barry Hill
Date: Tue, Dec 18 2018 5:35AM
Subject: WCAG guideline for too much ARIA
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Hi all



I've come across a page where the devs have gone over the top with ARIA in
an attempt to make a poor page accessible, but the ARIA is causing problems.
For example, there is a heading structure but the headings are not read out
because the ARIA label takes presidence. It seems that the devs have gone
through the page and worked out every instance where they might conceivably
stick ARIA.



Is there a WCAG guideline that is relevant for the use of too much ARIA?



Thanks in anticipation.



Cheers



Barry





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From: glen walker
Date: Tue, Dec 18 2018 5:50AM
Subject: Re: WCAG guideline for too much ARIA
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There's not a specific WCAG success criteria regarding ARIA but if you look
at the "First rule of ARIA use" at https://www.w3.org/TR/aria-in-html/#rule1,
it basically says if you can use native html semantics, then do so. That
is, don't use ARIA if you can help it.

For example, use <h2>Important Section<h2> rather than <div class="bigfont"
role="heading" aria-level="2" aria-label="important section"></div>

Other than that, if your use of ARIA causes issues with any WCAG success
criteria, then you'd have a normal accessibility issue. In your example,
if headings are not read properly, it would be a 1.3.1 issue. It doesn't
matter if it's a bad heading because of ARIA or just a poorly organized
site.

Glen

From: Steve Green
Date: Tue, Dec 18 2018 6:07AM
Subject: Re: WCAG guideline for too much ARIA
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We test a lot of websites, and they fall pretty much into two categories:

a. They have no ARIA at all, even if they need it.

b. They have too much ARIA and it is mostly used incorrectly.

The latter are now the majority, and arguably they are less accessible than the former.

I agree with Glen's comments that you should use the minimum necessary amount of ARIA mark-up. In some cases, the superfluous ARIA causes a WCAG non-compliance, so that clearly needs to be fixed. In other cases, the superfluous ARIA is valid but causes a bad user experience, usually because it results in too much unnecessary waffle. If the developers care about the user experience they will fix it, but I have encountered plenty of them who only care about WCAG compliance and won't fix usability issues like this (unless you tell them it's a WCAG non-compliance even though it isn't).

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > On Behalf Of Barry Hill
Sent: 18 December 2018 12:36
To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Subject: [WebAIM] WCAG guideline for too much ARIA

Hi all



I've come across a page where the devs have gone over the top with ARIA in an attempt to make a poor page accessible, but the ARIA is causing problems.
For example, there is a heading structure but the headings are not read out because the ARIA label takes presidence. It seems that the devs have gone through the page and worked out every instance where they might conceivably stick ARIA.



Is there a WCAG guideline that is relevant for the use of too much ARIA?



Thanks in anticipation.



Cheers



Barry





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From: Brian Lovely
Date: Tue, Dec 18 2018 6:36AM
Subject: Re: [External Sender]WCAG guideline for too much ARIA
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On Tue, Dec 18, 2018 at 8:08 AM Steve Green < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:

> We test a lot of websites, and they fall pretty much into two categories:
>
>
>
> b. They have too much ARIA and it is mostly used incorrectly.
>

This underscores the need for training. Often devs have no idea what ARIA
does, so they just use it willy-nilly, or they have a specific problem they
are trying to solve and just keep throwing ARIA at it until they get the
result they are looking for.
--
*Brian Lovely*
Digital Accessibility
804.389.1064

The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and/or proprietary to Capital One and/or its affiliates and may only be used solely in performance of work or services for Capital One. The information transmitted herewith is intended only for use by the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, copying or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from your computer.

From: Barry Hill
Date: Tue, Dec 18 2018 6:50AM
Subject: Re: [External Sender]WCAG guideline for too much ARIA
← Previous message | No next message

I've found that so many times that the problem with throwing Aria at it
until it works is that as soon as you change one small thing in the mark up,
it breaks the Aria. Best to just write in standard code in the first place.

Cheers

Barry



-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > On Behalf Of Brian
Lovely via WebAIM-Forum
Sent: 18 December 2018 1:37 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Cc: Brian Lovely < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] [External Sender] Re: WCAG guideline for too much ARIA

On Tue, Dec 18, 2018 at 8:08 AM Steve Green < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:

> We test a lot of websites, and they fall pretty much into two categories:
>
>
>
> b. They have too much ARIA and it is mostly used incorrectly.
>

This underscores the need for training. Often devs have no idea what ARIA
does, so they just use it willy-nilly, or they have a specific problem they
are trying to solve and just keep throwing ARIA at it until they get the
result they are looking for.
--
*Brian Lovely*
Digital Accessibility
804.389.1064

The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and/or proprietary
to Capital One and/or its affiliates and may only be used solely in
performance of work or services for Capital One. The information transmitted
herewith is intended only for use by the individual or entity to which it is
addressed. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you
are hereby notified that any review, retransmission, dissemination,
distribution, copying or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance
upon this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
communication in error, please contact the sender and delete the material
from your computer.
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