ARIA Checker
Checks robust HTML and ARIA relationships: duplicate IDs, missing reference targets, unknown roles, aria-hidden focus traps, and iframes without title.
Recognize an ARIA finding on the component
Example: a dialog with false labeling
A dialogue refers to a headline with aria-labelledby. If their ID is changed in the template, the dialog can lose its accessible name, although it looks visually unchanged. Therefore, first find the referenced element and check whether the ID occurs exactly once. Repeated dialogs in product lists are a typical location for such collisions.
Not only repair the attribute value
In the Accessibility Tree of the browser, compare the calculated name with the visible heading. Then open and close the dialog by keyboard. A correct ARIA attribute does not take over the focus control or the operating logic. The focus should be meaningful in the dialog when opening and return to the triggering point after closing. Document the state in which the error occurs; checking the closed dialog alone is not enough.
Additional documentation: W3C: modal dialogues
ARIA and robustness
Focused view for HTML robustness as well as names, roles and values according to WCAG 4.1.2.
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ARIA should help, not conceal
ARIA makes sense if native HTML semantics is not enough. However, faulty roles or broken ID relationships can confuse assistive technologies more than missing ARIA.
Prioritized checks
- Duplicate IDs that break labels and ARIA relationships.
- aria-labelledby, aria-describedby or aria-controls without target.
- Unknown role values.
- Focusable elements in aria-hidden regions.
Fixing ARIA problems with a sense of proportion
ARIA is not a substitute for clean HTML. The most important findings are those that incorrectly report names, roles or states to assistive technologies. If a button, dialog or tab system appears differently than it works visually, a real usage problem arises.
Prioritisation in practice
- Fixing Missing Targets of aria-labelledby, aria-describedby and aria-controls
- Clean up duplicate IDs in templates before reusing components
- Remove focusable elements in aria-hidden areas from the tab flow
Next meaningful check
After the technical corrections, interactive components should also be checked by keyboard and screen reader.
When ARIA findings are critical
Particularly important are components that change states: menus, dialogs, tabs, acceptances, filters and form messages. If ARIA reports false names, roles or relationships there, a contradiction between visible operation and assistive output arises.
For reused components, the correction in the template is worthwhile. A single error in navigation or modal can otherwise occur on many URLs at the same time.
A good review therefore separates real operating errors from purely cosmetic warnings. If a finding affects name, role, condition, or focus, it belongs on the technical priority list; pure redundancy can be cleaned up later.