Prohibited ARIA attribute
Silktide checks that every ARIA attribute on your pages is one the element's role actually supports. Attributes that a role does not support, and attributes that are not part of the ARIA standard at all, are ignored by browsers - the behavior the author intended never happens.
<!-- Problem: aria-checked means nothing on a button -->
<button aria-checked="true">Bold</button>
<!-- Fix: use a role that supports the state you need -->
<button role="switch" aria-checked="true">Bold</button>
Why this matters
Each role supports a specific set of states
and properties, and browsers discard anything outside that set. The page
then looks correct in code review while
users get
nothing: a toggle whose state is never announced, a description that is
never read. This category also catches misspelled attributes such as
aria-lable - the most damaging case, because the author believes a label
exists and a user gets
none.
How to fix it
- Fix misspelled attribute names (
aria-lableshould bearia-label,aria-labeledbyshould bearia-labelledby). - If the attribute is right but unsupported, change the element's role to one that supports it - or reconsider whether a native element already provides the behavior.
- If the attribute does nothing useful, remove it.
How Silktide tests this
- Find every element on the page that carries at least one
aria-attribute. - Determine the set of ARIA attributes valid for that element: the global
attributes that work everywhere (such as
aria-labelandaria-hidden), plus the attributes supported by the element's role. - Report attribute names that are not part of ARIA 1.2 - typically typos.
- Report recognized attributes used on an element whose role does not support them, or that require a role the element does not have.
Deprecated attributes are reported separately by Deprecated ARIA attribute, and attribute values are validated by Invalid ARIA attribute value.
Troubleshooting
The attribute works in my testing
Some screen reader and browser pairings tolerate nonstandard combinations that others discard. Conformance with the standard is what makes behavior predictable across the assistive technology you cannot test.
This check reports nothing even though I expect findings
ARIA testing can be turned off per website. Check the advanced settings for the website.