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ARIA items do not have accessible names

ARIA items do not have accessible names

Users of screen readers and other assistive technologies need information about the behavior and purpose of controls on your web page. Built-in HTML controls like buttons and radio groups come with that information built in. For custom controls you create, however, you must provide the information with ARIA roles and attributes. (Learn more in the Introduction to ARIA.)

To be announced properly by assistive technologies, both built-in HTML controls and custom ARIA controls must have accessible names that convey their purpose.

How Lighthouse identifies ARIA items without accessible names #

Lighthouse flags custom ARIA items whose names aren't accessible to assistive technologies:

Lighthouse audit showing custom toggle elements without accessible names

There are 7 audits that check for accessible names, each one covers a different set of ARIA roles. Elements that have any of the following ARIA roles but don't have accessible names will cause this audit to fail:

Audit nameARIA roles
aria-command-namebutton, link, menuitem
aria-input-field-namecombobox, listbox, searchbox, slider, spinbutton, textbox
aria-meter-namemeter
aria-progressbar-nameprogressbar
aria-toggle-field-namecheckbox, menu, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio, radio, radiogroup, switch
aria-tooltip-nametooltip
aria-treeitem-nametreeitem

Caution: Most common input types can be created with standardized HTML elements, which come with built-in behaviors and accessible semantics that can be time consuming to replicate. Consider using built-in elements instead of ARIA roles if possible.

The Lighthouse Accessibility score is a weighted average of all the accessibility audits. See the Lighthouse accessibility scoring post for more information.

Example 1: How to add accessible names to your custom ARIA toggle fields #

Option 1: Add inner text to the element #

The easiest way to provide an accessible name for most elements is to include text content inside the element.

For example, this custom checkbox will be announced as "Newspaper" to assistive technology users:

<div id="checkbox1" role="checkbox">Newspaper</div>

Using the clip pattern you can hide the inner text on screen, but still have it announced by assistive technology. This can be especially handy if you translate your pages for localization.

<a href="/accessible">Learn more <span class="visually-hidden">about accessibility on web.dev</span></a>

Option 2: Add an aria-label attribute to the element #

If you can't add inner text—for example, if you don't want the element's name to be visible—use the aria-label attribute.

This custom switch will be announced as "Toggle blue light" to assistive technology users:

<div id="switch1"
    role="switch"
    aria-checked="true"
    aria-label="Toggle blue light">
    <span>off</span>
    <span>on</span>
</div>

Option 3: Refer to another element using aria-labelledby #

Use the aria-labelledby attribute to identify another element, using its ID, to serve as the name for the current element.

For example, this custom menu radio button refers to the menuitem1Label paragraph as its label and will be announced as "Sans-serif":

<p id="menuitem1Label">Sans-serif</p>
<ul role="menu">
    <li id="menuitem1"
        role="menuitemradio"
        aria-labelledby="menuitem1Label"
        aria-checked="true"></li>
</ul>

Example 2: How to add accessible names to your custom ARIA input fields #

The easiest way to provide an accessible name for most elements is to include text content in the element. However, custom input fields typically don't have inner text, so you can use one of the following strategies instead.

Option 1: Add an aria-label attribute to the element #

Use the aria-label attribute to define the name for the current element.

For example, this custom combobox will be announced as "country" to assistive technology users:

<div id="combo1" aria-label="country" role="combobox"></div>

Option 2: Refer to another element using aria-labelledby #

Use the aria-labelledby attribute to identify another element, using its ID, to serve as the name for the current element.

For example, this custom searchbox refers to the searchLabel paragraph as its label and will be announced as "Search currency pairs":

<p id="searchLabel">Search currency pairs:</p>
<div id="search"
    role="searchbox"
    contenteditable="true"
    aria-labelledby="searchLabel"></div>

Resources #

Accessibility
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