Missing aria-controls ID

Silktide checks every aria-controls attribute on your pages and verifies that the element IDs it lists actually exist. This attribute declares which part of the page a control operates on, such as the panel a tab shows or the menu a button opens.

<!-- Problem: no element on the page has id="filter-panel" -->
<button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="filter-panel">Filters</button>

Why this matters

The aria-controls attribute lets connect a control to the content it affects - some offer a shortcut to jump straight to the controlled element. When the reference is broken, that relationship silently disappears. Broken references usually mean an ID was renamed or a component was removed, so they are also an early warning that the widget itself may no longer work as intended.

How to fix it

Make each ID listed in aria-controls match the id of a real element on the same page. The attribute may list several IDs separated by spaces; check each one.
If the controlled element is added dynamically, either render it hidden from the start or set aria-controls once it exists.
If the controlled element is gone for good, remove the attribute.

How Silktide tests this

Find every element on the page with an aria-controls attribute.
Check each ID it references against the element IDs present on the page.
Report each reference that matches no element.

Troubleshooting

The target is created later by a script

Silktide tests the page as it loads. If the referenced panel only appears after user interaction, the reference is broken until then - prefer keeping the target in the page (hidden) so the reference always resolves.

This check reports nothing even though I expect findings

ARIA testing can be turned off per website. Check the advanced settings for the website.