aria-braille attributes must have a non-braille equivalent

Rule ID: aria-braille-equivalent
Ruleset: axe-core 4.9
User Impact: Serious
Guidelines: WCAG 2.1 (A), WCAG 2.0 (A), WCAG 2.2 (A), EN 301 549

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Compliance Data & Impact

User Impact

Serious
▼
Minor
Critical

Disabilities Affected

  • Blind
  • Deafblind
  • Mobility

Standard(s)

  • WCAG 2.1 (A)
  • WCAG 2.0 (A)
  • WCAG 2.2 (A)
  • EN 301 549

WCAG Success Criteria [WCAG 2.1 (A)]

  • 4.1.2: MUST: Name, Role, Value

WCAG Success Criteria [WCAG 2.0 (A)]

  • 4.1.2: MUST: Name, Role, Value

WCAG Success Criteria [WCAG 2.2 (A)]

  • 4.1.2: MUST: Name, Role, Value

EN 301 549 Guidelines

  • 9.4.1.2: MUST: Name, Role, Value

How to Fix the Problem

  • The aria-braillelabel or aria-brailleroledescription attribute may have been placed on the wrong element, such as a parent or child of the correct element. The attribute should be put on a different element.
  • The element with aria-braillelabel attribute needs an aria-label attribute or other attribute that gives it an accessible name.
  • The element with aria-brailleroledescription attribute needs a aria-roledescription attribute.
  • The aria-braillelabel or aria-brailleroledescription attribute serves no function and should be removed.

Good aria-braillelabel:

<button aria-braillelabel="****">
  <img alt="4 stars" src="images/stars.jpg">
</button>

Bad aria-braillelabel:

<img alt="" aria-braillelabel="****" src="images/stars.jpg">

Good aria-brailleroledescription

<div
  role="article" id="slide" aria-labelledby="slideheading"
  aria-roledescription="slide"
  aria-brailleroledescription="sld"
>
  <h1 id="slideheading">My vacation in Rome</h1>
</div>

Bad aria-brailleroledescription

<div
  role="article" id="slide" aria-labelledby="slideheading"
  aria-brailleroledescription="slide"
>
  <h1 id="slideheading">My vacation in Rome</h1>
</div>

Why it Matters

ARIA braille attributes were introduced to allow adjusting how labels and role descriptions are rendered on a braille display. They cannot be the only attribute providing a label, or a role description. When used without a corresponding label or role description ARIA says to ignore these attributes, although this may not happen consistently in screen readers and other assistive technologies.

Rule Description

WAI-ARIA requires that the aria-braillelabel attribute is only ever used on elements with an accessible name, such as from aria-label. Similarly, aria-brailleroledescription is required to only ever be used on elements with aria-roledescription.

The Algorithm (in simple terms)

Checks that aria-braillelabel is only used on elements with a non-empty label, and that aria-brailleroledescription is only used on elements with a non-empty aria-roledescription.

Resources

Deque University Course Pages (subscription required)

Contribute to axe-core on GitHub

Other Resources

You may also want to check out these other resources.

Refer to the complete list of axe 4.9 rules.

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