HTML Guide
The only accepted values for the aria-current property are page, step, location, date, time, true and false.
A non-null aria-current state on an element indicates that this element represents the current item within a container or set of related elements.
When you have a group of related elements, such as several links in a breadcrumb or steps in a multi-step flow, with one element in the group styled differently from the others to indicate to the sighted user that this is the current element within its group, the aria-current should be used to inform the assistive technology user what has been indicated via styling.
In its simplest form, you only need to add aria-current="true" to the element that you wish to mark as the current element of a group, for example:
<nav>
<ol>
<li>
<a href="/page1">Page 1</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="/page2" aria-current="true">Page 2</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="/page3">Page 3</a>
</li>
</ol>
</nav>
If you can, use the values page, step, location, date or time instead of true to indicate the nature of the current element:
- page
- Represents the current page within a set of pages such as the link to the current document in a breadcrumb.
- step
- Represents the current step within a process such as the current step in an enumerated multi step checkout flow.
- location
- Represents the current location within an environment or context such as the image that is visually highlighted as the current component of a flow chart.
- date
- Represents the current date within a collection of dates such as the current date within a calendar.
- time
- Represents the current time within a set of times such as the current time within a timetable.
For example, here we use page instead of true.
<nav>
<ol>
<li>
<a href="/page1">Page 1</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="/page2" aria-current="page">Page 2</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="/page3">Page 3</a>
</li>
</ol>
</nav>
If you want to indicate that an element is not the current element, you can use the false value or just skip the aria-current property entirely on the element.
Using a blank string is not a valid value for this property, so instead of this:
<a href="/page3" aria-current="">Page 3</a>
you can use false:
<a href="/page3" aria-current="false">Page 3</a>or, better yet, skip the property entirely:
<a href="/page3">Page 3</a>Learn more:
Related W3C validator issues
There can only be one visible <main> element in a document. If more are needed (for example for switching between them with JavaScript), only one can be visible, the others should be hidden toggling the hidden attribute.
Example of 2 main elements, where only one is visible:
<main>
<h1>Active main element</h1>
<!-- content -->
</main>
<main hidden>
<h1>Hidden main element</h1>
<!-- content -->
</main>To fix this issue, ensure that an element with role="listitem" is contained within an element with role="list" or role="group". Here’s how you can structure your HTML correctly:
Incorrect Example
<div role="listitem">Item 1</div>
<div role="listitem">Item 2</div>Correct Example
<div role="list">
<div role="listitem">Item 1</div>
<div role="listitem">Item 2</div>
</div>Alternatively, you can use role="group" if it’s a nested list.
Correct Example with Nested List
<div role="list">
<div role="listitem">Item 1</div>
<div role="group">
<div role="listitem">Item 1.1</div>
<div role="listitem">Item 1.2</div>
</div>
<div role="listitem">Item 2</div>
</div>This ensures that the role="listitem" elements are correctly contained.
To fix the W3C HTML Validator issue stating that an element with a role="menuitem" must be contained in, or owned by, an element with role="menubar" or role="menu", you need to ensure that your menuitem elements are properly nested within a menubar or menu element. This is important for accessibility, as it helps assistive technologies understand the structure and relationship of the elements.
The menuitem role indicates the element is an option in a set of choices contained by a menu or menubar.
Here is a step-by-step guide to fixing this issue:
1. Using role="menubar"
If your menuitem elements are part of a horizontal menu (like a navigation bar), they should be nested within an element with role="menubar".
Example:
<nav role="menubar">
<div role="menuitem">Home</div>
<div role="menuitem">About</div>
<div role="menuitem">Contact</div>
</nav>2. Using role="menu"
If your menuitem elements are part of a submenu or a vertical menu, they should be contained within an element with role="menu".
Example:
<div role="menu">
<div role="menuitem">Item 1</div>
<div role="menuitem">Item 2</div>
<div role="menuitem">Item 3</div>
</div>Ensuring Proper Nesting
Ensure that all your menuitem elements are either directly or indirectly (via a child-parent relationship) contained within a menubar or menu element.
Complete Example with Nested Menus:
Here is a more complex example, including nested menus for a drop-down scenario.
Example:
<nav role="menubar">
<div role="menuitem">Home</div>
<div role="menuitem">
About
<div role="menu">
<div role="menuitem">Team</div>
<div role="menuitem">History</div>
</div>
</div>
<div role="menuitem">Contact</div>
</nav>In this example, the main navigation (menubar) contains menuitem elements, and one of those menuitem elements contains a nested menu with additional menuitem elements inside it.
By ensuring your menuitem elements are contained within appropriate parent elements (menubar or menu), you will resolve the W3C HTML Validator issue and improve your web page’s accessibility.
Elements with the role tab must either be a child of an element with the tablist role, or have their id part of the aria-owns property of a tablist.
An element with the tab role controls the visibility of an associated element with the tabpanel role. The common user experience pattern is a group of visual tabs above, or to the side of, a content area, and selecting a different tab changes the content and makes the selected tab more prominent than the other tabs.
Example:
<div class="tabs">
<div role="tablist" aria-label="Sample Tabs">
<button role="tab" aria-selected="true" aria-controls="panel-1" id="tab-1" tabindex="0">
First Tab
</button>
<button role="tab" aria-selected="false" aria-controls="panel-2" id="tab-2" tabindex="-1">
Second Tab
</button>
</div>
<div id="panel-1" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0" aria-labelledby="tab-1">
<p>Content for the first panel</p>
</div>
<div id="panel-2" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0" aria-labelledby="tab-2" hidden>
<p>Content for the second panel</p>
</div>
</div>The aria-* attributes are part of the WAI-ARIA (Web Accessibility Initiative-Accessible Rich Internet Applications) suite. They are used to improve the accessibility of web pages. However, when we use an input element with a type attribute whose value is hidden, we imply that the element is invisible and has no interaction with the user. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to add aria-* attributes to it.
To fix this issue, you need to remove the aria-* attributes from the input element with type=hidden. Here is an example:
<!-- Wrong code -->
<input type="hidden" name="referer" value="https://example.com" aria-invalid="false">
<!-- Correct code -->
<input type="hidden" name="referer" value="https://example.com">labelledby is not a valid attribute for the <svg> element. Perhaps you meant aria-labelledby?
The aria-labelledby attribute establishes relationships between objects and their label(s), and its value should be one or more element IDs, which refer to elements that have the text needed for labeling.
Example:
<div id="myBillingId">Billing</div>
<div>
<div id="myNameId">Name</div>
<input type="text" aria-labelledby="myBillingId myNameId"/>
</div>
<div>
<div id="myAddressId">Address</div>
<input type="text" aria-labelledby="myBillingId myAddressId"/>
</div>Due to an issue in the W3C validator, this is identified as an error but it’s not. This issue has been notified, and we’ll update our validator as soon as there’s a fix.
According to the WAI-ARIA 1.2 spec:
The aria-setsize property defines the number of items in the current set of listitems or treeitems. Not required if all elements in the set are present in the DOM.
Authors MUST set the value of aria-setsize to an integer equal to the number of items in the set. If the total number of items is unknown, authors SHOULD set the value of aria-setsize to -1.
The alert role can be used to tell the user an element has been dynamically updated. Screen readers will instantly start reading out the updated content when the role is added. The element <ul> doesn’t accept this kind of role, consider using other element like <p> or <div>.
The alert role is used to communicate an important and usually time-sensitive message to the user. When this role is added to an element, the browser will send out an accessible alert event to assistive technology products which can then notify the user about it. The alert role is most useful for information that requires the user’s immediate attention.
The aria-expanded attribute can only be true, false, or undefined.
This attribute indicates whether a grouping element is expanded or collapsed.
The icon value for attribute role is not a valid ARIA role.
ARIA Roles: Overview
ARIA roles are used to enhance accessibility by clearly defining the role and purpose of an element for assistive technologies. However, there are defined roles that you need to adhere to:
- Standard roles include button, checkbox, alert, dialog, img, etc.
- There is no ARIA role named icon.
Solution
To fix the issue, you need to use a valid ARIA role that accurately describes the purpose of the span element. If your intention is to convey that the span contains an icon, you might want to reconsider whether you need a role at all. Often, purely decorative elements should not have a role, or you might use an img role if it conveys a meaningful image.
Here’s how you can address this:
-
No ARIA role (if purely decorative): If the icon is purely decorative and does not add meaningful content to your page, you should remove the role attribute entirely.
<span class="icon"></span> -
Using img role (if it represents an image): If the span represents an image or an icon that conveys meaningful information, you can use role="img" and provide a proper aria-label.
<span class="icon" role="img" aria-label="Icon Description"></span> -
Using an appropriate role (if interactive): If the icon is part of an interactive element, you might need a different role. For instance, if the icon is inside a button:
<button> <span class="icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> Button text </button>Here, aria-hidden="true" is used to hide the decorative icon from screen readers as the text provides the necessary context.