microsoft/detecting-accessibility-issues

Accessibility Expert for Webviews

Verify and fix accessibility in React/Fluent UI webview components.

When to Use

• Review webview code for accessibility issues
• Fix double announcements from screen readers
• Add missing aria-label to icon-only buttons or form inputs
• Make tooltips accessible to keyboard/screen reader users
• Announce status changes (loading, search results, errors)
• Manage focus when dialogs/modals open
• Group related controls with proper labels

Core Pattern: Tooltip Accessibility

Tooltips require aria-label + aria-hidden to avoid double announcements:

<Tooltip content="Detailed explanation">
  <Badge tabIndex={0} className="focusableBadge" aria-label="Badge text. Detailed explanation">
    <span aria-hidden="true">Badge text</span>
  </Badge>
</Tooltip>

• aria-label: Full context (visible text + tooltip)
• aria-hidden="true": Wraps visible text to prevent duplication
• Screen reader hears: "Badge text. Detailed explanation"

Detection Rules

1. Tooltip Without aria-label Context

❌ Problem: Tooltip content inaccessible to screen readers

<Tooltip content="Save document to database">
  <Button aria-label="Save">Save</Button>
</Tooltip>

✅ Fix: Include tooltip in aria-label

<Tooltip content="Save document to database" relationship="description">
  <Button aria-label="Save document to database">Save</Button>
</Tooltip>

2. Missing aria-hidden (Double Announcement)

❌ Problem: Screen reader says "Collection scan Collection scan"

<Badge aria-label="Collection scan. Query is inefficient">Collection scan</Badge>

✅ Fix: Wrap visible text

<Badge aria-label="Collection scan. Query is inefficient">
  <span aria-hidden="true">Collection scan</span>
</Badge>

3. Redundant aria-label (NOT Needed)

❌ Problem: aria-label identical to visible text adds no value

<Button aria-label="Save">Save</Button>
<ToolbarButton aria-label="Validate" icon={<CheckIcon />}>Validate</ToolbarButton>

✅ Fix: Remove redundant aria-label OR make it more descriptive

<Button>Save</Button>
<ToolbarButton icon={<CheckIcon />}>Validate</ToolbarButton>

Keep aria-label only when it adds information:

<ToolbarButton aria-label="Save document to database" icon={<SaveIcon />}>
  Save
</ToolbarButton>

4. Icon-Only Button Missing aria-label

❌ Problem: No accessible name

<ToolbarButton icon={<DeleteRegular />} onClick={onDelete} />

✅ Fix: Add aria-label

<Tooltip content="Delete selected items" relationship="description">
  <ToolbarButton aria-label="Delete selected items" icon={<DeleteRegular />} onClick={onDelete} />
</Tooltip>

5. Decorative Elements Not Hidden

❌ Problem: Progress bar announced unnecessarily

<ProgressBar thickness="large" />

✅ Fix: Hide decorative elements

<ProgressBar thickness="large" aria-hidden={true} />

6. Input Missing Accessible Name

❌ Problem: SpinButton/Input without accessible name

<SpinButton value={skipValue} onChange={onSkipChange} />
<Input placeholder="Enter query..." />

✅ Fix: Add aria-label or associate with label element

<SpinButton aria-label="Skip documents" value={skipValue} onChange={onSkipChange} />
<Label htmlFor="query-input">Query</Label>
<Input id="query-input" placeholder="Enter query..." />

7. Visible Label Not in Accessible Name

❌ Problem: aria-label doesn't contain visible text (breaks voice control)

<ToolbarButton aria-label="Reload data" icon={<RefreshIcon />}>
  Refresh
</ToolbarButton>

✅ Fix: Accessible name must contain visible label exactly

<ToolbarButton aria-label="Refresh data" icon={<RefreshIcon />}>
  Refresh
</ToolbarButton>

Voice control users say "click Refresh" – only works if accessible name contains "Refresh".

8. Status Changes Not Announced

❌ Problem: Screen reader doesn't announce dynamic content

<span>{isLoading ? 'Loading...' : `${count} results`}</span>

✅ Fix: Use the Announcer component

import { Announcer } from '../../api/webview-client/accessibility';

// Announces when `when` transitions from false to true
<Announcer when={isLoading} message={l10n.t('Loading...')} />

// Dynamic message based on state
<Announcer
    when={!isLoading && documentCount !== undefined}
    message={documentCount > 0 ? l10n.t('Results found') : l10n.t('No results found')}
/>

Use for: loading states, search results, success/error messages.

9. Dialog Opens Without Focus Move

❌ Problem: Focus stays on trigger when modal opens

{
  isOpen && <Dialog>...</Dialog>;
}

✅ Fix: Move focus programmatically

const dialogRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);

useEffect(() => {
  if (isOpen) dialogRef.current?.focus();
}, [isOpen]);

{
  isOpen && (
    <Dialog ref={dialogRef} tabIndex={-1} aria-modal="true">
      ...
    </Dialog>
  );
}

10. Related Controls Without Group Label

❌ Problem: Buttons share visual label but screen reader misses context

<span>How would you rate this?</span>
<Button>👍</Button>
<Button>👎</Button>

✅ Fix: Use role="group" with aria-labelledby

<div role="group" aria-labelledby="rating-label">
  <span id="rating-label">How would you rate this?</span>
  <Button aria-label="I like it">👍</Button>
  <Button aria-label="I don't like it">👎</Button>
</div>

When to Use aria-hidden

DO use on:

• Visible text when aria-label provides complete context
• Decorative icons, spinners, progress bars
• Visual separators (`|`, `—`)

DO NOT use on:

• The only accessible content (hides it completely)
• Interactive/focusable elements
• Error messages or alerts

focusableBadge Pattern

For keyboard-accessible badges with tooltips:

1. Import: `import '../components/focusableBadge/focusableBadge.scss';`
2. Apply attributes:

<Badge tabIndex={0} className="focusableBadge" aria-label="Visible text. Tooltip details">
  <span aria-hidden="true">Visible text</span>
</Badge>

Screen Reader Announcements

Use the Announcer component for WCAG 4.1.3 (Status Messages) compliance.

import { Announcer } from '../../api/webview-client/accessibility';

Basic Usage

// Announces "AI is analyzing..." when isLoading becomes true
<Announcer when={isLoading} message={l10n.t('AI is analyzing...')} />

// Dynamic message based on state (e.g., query results)
<Announcer
    when={!isLoading && documentCount !== undefined}
    message={documentCount > 0 ? l10n.t('Results found') : l10n.t('No results found')}
/>

// With assertive politeness (default is polite)
<Announcer when={hasError} message={l10n.t('Error occurred')} politeness="assertive" />

Props

• when: Announces when this transitions from false to true
• message: The message to announce (use l10n.t() for localization)
• politeness: 'assertive' (default, interrupts) or 'polite' (waits for idle)

Key Points

• Placement doesn't matter - screen readers monitor all live regions regardless of DOM position; place near related UI for code readability
• Store relevant state (e.g., documentCount) to derive dynamic messages
• Use l10n.t() for messages - announcements must be localized
• Condition resets automatically - when when goes back to false, it's ready for the next announcement
• Prefer 'assertive' for user-initiated actions, 'polite' for background updates

Quick Checklist

• [ ] Icon-only buttons have aria-label
• [ ] Form inputs have associated labels or aria-label
• [ ] Tooltip content included in aria-label
• [ ] Visible text wrapped in aria-hidden="true" when aria-label duplicates it
• [ ] Redundant aria-labels removed (identical to visible text)
• [ ] Visible button labels match accessible name exactly (for voice control)
• [ ] Decorative elements have aria-hidden={true}
• [ ] Badges with tooltips use focusableBadge class + tabIndex={0}
• [ ] Status updates use Announcer component
• [ ] Focus moves to dialog/modal content when opened
• [ ] Related controls wrapped in role="group" with aria-labelledby

References

• WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard
• WCAG 2.4.3 Focus Order
• WCAG 2.5.3 Label in Name
• WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value
• WCAG 4.1.3 Status Messages
• See src/webviews/components/focusableBadge/focusableBadge.md for the Badge pattern