Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA)
WAI-ARIA stands for the Web Accessibility Initiative, Accessible Rich Internet Applications. I've added this section to the WCAG page because ARIA can be needed to meet WCAG criteria in some situations. Also, in preparation for the Web Accessibility Specialist exam, I need to study and secure my knowledge and understanding of ARIA.
What do I have to learn?
The Body of Knowledge requires candidates to:
- Understand the purpose and impact of WAI-ARIA 1.2.
- Understand the WAI-ARIA 1.2 model of roles, states and properties.
- Know when and why to use WAI-ARIA 1.2, and when to use standard HTML instead.
Purpose and impact of ARIA
ARIA allows developers to create custom content and widgets, which are accessible for people who use assistive software.
Roles, states and properties
- ARIA roles
- Defines the type of something, e.g. landmarks, widgets
- States
- Provides information about a role that may change frequently due to user interactions, e.g. aria-checked, aria-expanded
- Properties
- Provides information about a role that is less likely to change often, e.g. aria-labelledby
Use of ARIA
The first rule of ARIA is that no ARIA is better than bad ARIA. Where possible, it is always better to use native HTML elements. ARIA should only be used when HTML alone is not sufficient. One example of this, is in the creation of custom widgets. So, I will have a go at creating some custom widgets:
