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Proposed Summary element has non-empty accessible name

Description

This rule checks that each summary element has a non-empty accessible name.

Applicability

This rule applies to HTML summary elements for which all the following are true:

Expectation

Each target element has an accessible name that is not empty (""), nor just the name of the ::marker pseudo element.

Background

This rule is only applicable to summary elements that the browser will use as controls for a details element. While this rule is not applicable to summary elements with an [explicit semantic role][], most of the time these likely do still require an accessible name. This is covered by other rules, such as the Button has non-empty accessible name.

If the summary element is not included in the accessibility tree, but is still included in sequential focus navigation, this can result in accessibility issues not tested by this rule. This is covered under Element with aria-hidden has no content in sequential focus navigation.

Note that some user agents expose the summary element with a button role. This deviates from the implicit ARIA semantics described in ARIA in HTML. Because some browsers do not give summary elements a button role, these elements need to be tested separately from the Button has non-empty accessible name ACT rule.

Assumptions

The rule assumes that all summary elements are user interface components as defined by WCAG 2.

Accessibility Support

There is a difference in how user agents expose the triangle indicating the control’s expand state. As a result, some user agents include the triangle in the accessible name of the summary element.

Bibliography

Accessibility Requirements Mapping

Input Aspects

The following aspects are required in using this rule.

Test Cases

Passed

Passed Example 1

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This summary element has an accessible name because of its text content.

<details>
	<summary>Opening times</summary>
	<p>This is a website. We are available 24/7.</p>
</details>

Passed Example 2

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This summary element has an accessible name because of its aria-label attribute.

<details>
	<summary aria-label="Opening times"></summary>
	<p>This is a website. We are available 24/7.</p>
</details>

Passed Example 3

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This summary element has an accessible name because of its aria-labelledby attribute.

<span id="opening-times">Opening times</span>
<details>
	<summary aria-labelledby="opening-times"></summary>
	<p>This is a website. We are available 24/7.</p>
</details>

Passed Example 4

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This summary element has an accessible name because of its text content. It does not need to be the first child element of details.

<details>
	<p>This is a website. We are available 24/7.</p>
	<summary>Opening times</summary>
</details>

Passed Example 5

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This first summary element has an accessible name because of its text content. The second summary element is inapplicable because only the first summary element will be used as a control for the details element.

<details>
	<summary>Opening times</summary>
	<summary></summary>
	<p>This is a website. We are available 24/7.</p>
</details>

Failed

Failed Example 1

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This summary element has no accessible name, or an accessible name with just the ::marker pseudo element, because it has no content or attribute that can provide it.

<details>
	<summary></summary>
	<p>This is a website. We are available 24/7.</p>
</details>

Failed Example 2

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This summary element has an explicit role of none. However, it is focusable (by default) which causes Presentational Roles Conflict Resolution. It fails because it has an empty accessible name.

<details>
	<summary role="none"></summary>
	<p>This is a website. We are available 24/7.</p>
</details>

Failed Example 3

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This first summary element has no accessible name because it is empty. The second summary element is inapplicable because only the first summary element will be used as a control for the details element.

<details>
	<summary></summary>
	<summary>Opening times</summary>
	<p>This is a website. We are available 24/7.</p>
</details>

Inapplicable

Inapplicable Example 1

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This summary element is not a child of a details element and so will not be interactive.

<summary></summary>

Inapplicable Example 2

Open in a new tab

This summary element is not a direct child of a details element and so will not be interactive.

<details>
	<div>
		<summary></summary>
	</div>
	<p>This is a website. We are available 24/7.</p>
</details>

Inapplicable Example 3

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This summary element has an explicit semantic role of button. These are tested under Button has non-empty accessible name instead. Note that while this example does not fail WCAG, under ARIA in HTML it is not allowed to override the role of a summary for its parent details.

<details>
	<summary role="button">Opening hours</summary>
	<p>This is a website. We are available 24/7.</p>
</details>

Inapplicable Example 4

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This summary element is hidden to everyone.

<details style="display:none">
	<summary></summary>
	<p>This is a website. We are available 24/7.</p>
</details>

Glossary

Accessible Name

The accessible name is the programmatically determined name of a user interface element that is included in the accessibility tree.

The accessible name is calculated using the accessible name and description computation.

For native markup languages, such as HTML and SVG, additional information on how to calculate the accessible name can be found in HTML Accessibility API Mappings 1.0, Accessible Name and Description Computation (working draft) and SVG Accessibility API Mappings, Name and Description (working draft).

For more details, see examples of accessible name.

Note: As per the accessible name and description computation, each element always has an accessible name. When no accessible name is provided, the element will nonetheless be assigned an empty ("") one.

Note: As per the accessible name and description computation, accessible names are flat string trimmed of leading and trailing whitespace. Notably, it is not possible for a non-empty accessible name to be composed only of whitespace since these must be trimmed.

Explicit Semantic Role

The explicit semantic role of an element is determined by its role attribute (if any).

The role attribute takes a list of tokens. The explicit semantic role is the first valid role in this list. The valid roles are all non-abstract roles from WAI-ARIA Specifications. If the element has no role attribute, or if it has one with no valid role, then this element has no explicit semantic role.

Other roles may be added as they become available. Not all roles will be supported in all assistive technologies. Testers are encouraged to adjust which roles are allowed according to the accessibility support base line. For the purposes of executing test cases in all rules, it should be assumed that all roles are supported by assistive technologies so that none of the roles fail due to lack of accessibility support.

Focusable

An element is focusable if one or both of the following are true:

Exception: Elements that lose focus and do not regain focus during a period of up to 1 second after gaining focus, without the user interacting with the page the element is on, are not considered focusable.

Notes:

Included in the accessibility tree

Elements included in the accessibility tree of platform specific accessibility APIs are exposed to assistive technologies. This allows users of assistive technology to access the elements in a way that meets the requirements of the individual user.

The general rules for when elements are included in the accessibility tree are defined in the core accessibility API mappings. For native markup languages, such as HTML and SVG, additional rules for when elements are included in the accessibility tree can be found in the HTML accessibility API mappings (working draft) and the SVG accessibility API mappings (working draft).

For more details, see examples of included in the accessibility tree.

Programmatically hidden elements are removed from the accessibility tree. However, some browsers will leave focusable elements with an aria-hidden attribute set to true in the accessibility tree. Because they are hidden, these elements are considered not included in the accessibility tree. This may cause confusion for users of assistive technologies because they may still be able to interact with these focusable elements using sequential keyboard navigation, even though the element should not be included in the accessibility tree.

Outcome

A conclusion that comes from evaluating an ACT Rule on a test subject or one of its constituent test target. An outcome can be one of the five following types:

Note: A rule has one passed or failed outcome for every test target. When a tester evaluates a test target it can also be reported as cantTell if the rule cannot be tested in its entirety. For example, when applicability was automated, but the expectations have to be evaluated manually.

When there are no test targets the rule has one inapplicable outcome. If the tester is unable to determine whether there are test targets there will be one cantTell outcome. And when no evaluation has occurred the test target has one untested outcome. This means that each test subject always has one or more outcomes.

Outcomes used in ACT Rules can be expressed using the outcome property of the [EARL10-Schema][].

Programmatically Hidden

An HTML element is programmatically hidden if either it has a computed CSS property visibility whose value is not visible; or at least one of the following is true for any of its inclusive ancestors in the flat tree:

Note: Contrary to the other conditions, the visibility CSS property may be reverted by descendants.

Note: The HTML standard suggests setting the CSS display property to none for elements with the hidden attribute. While not required by HTML, all modern browsers follow this suggestion. Because of this the hidden attribute is not used in this definition. In browsers that use this suggestion, overriding the CSS display property can reveal elements with the hidden attribute.

WAI-ARIA specifications

The WAI ARIA Specifications group both the WAI ARIA W3C Recommendation and ARIA modules, namely:

Note: depending on the type of content being evaluated, part of the specifications might be irrelevant and should be ignored.

Rule Versions

This is the first version of this ACT rule.

Implementations

This section is not part of the official rule. It is populated dynamically and not accounted for in the change history or the last modified date.

Implementation Type Consistency Report
Alfa (fully automated) 0.80.0 Automated tool Consistent Alfa (fully automated) Report
Alfa (semi-automated) 0.80.0 Semi-automated tool Consistent Alfa (semi-automated) Report
SortSite 6.45 Automated tool Consistent SortSite Report
Total Validator 17.4.0 Linter Consistent Total Validator Report
Total Validator (+Browser) 17.4.0 Automated tool Consistent Total Validator (+Browser) Report
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This is an unpublished draft preview that might include content that is not yet approved. The published website is at w3.org/WAI/.