Accessibility Expert for Webviews

Verify and fix accessibility in React/Fluent UI webview components.

When to Use

Review webview code for accessibility issues
Fix double announcements from screen readers
Add missing aria-label to icon-only buttons or form inputs
Make tooltips accessible to keyboard/screen reader users
Announce status changes (loading, search results, errors)
Manage focus when dialogs/modals open
Group related controls with proper labels

Core Pattern: Tooltip Accessibility

Tooltips require aria-label + aria-hidden to avoid double announcements:

<Tooltip content="Detailed explanation">
  <Badge tabIndex={0} className="focusableBadge" aria-label="Badge text. Detailed explanation">
    <span aria-hidden="true">Badge text</span>
  </Badge>
</Tooltip>

aria-label: Full context (visible text + tooltip)
aria-hidden="true": Wraps visible text to prevent duplication
Screen reader hears: "Badge text. Detailed explanation"

Detection Rules

1. Tooltip Without aria-label Context

❌ Problem: Tooltip content inaccessible to screen readers

<Tooltip content="Save document to database">
  <Button aria-label="Save">Save</Button>
</Tooltip>

✅ Fix: Include tooltip in aria-label

<Tooltip content="Save document to database" relationship="description">
  <Button aria-label="Save document to database">Save</Button>
</Tooltip>

2. Missing aria-hidden (Double Announcement)

❌ Problem: Screen reader says "Collection scan Collection scan"

<Badge aria-label="Collection scan. Query is inefficient">Collection scan</Badge>

✅ Fix: Wrap visible text

<Badge aria-label="Collection scan. Query is inefficient">
  <span aria-hidden="true">Collection scan</span>
</Badge>

3. Redundant aria-label (NOT Needed)

❌ Problem: aria-label identical to visible text adds no value

<Button aria-label="Save">Save</Button>
<ToolbarButton aria-label="Validate" icon={<CheckIcon />}>Validate</ToolbarButton>

✅ Fix: Remove redundant aria-label OR make it more descriptive

<Button>Save</Button>
<ToolbarButton icon={<CheckIcon />}>Validate</ToolbarButton>

Keep aria-label only when it adds information:

<ToolbarButton aria-label="Save document to database" icon={<SaveIcon />}>
  Save
</ToolbarButton>

4. Icon-Only Button Missing aria-label

❌ Problem: No accessible name

<ToolbarButton icon={<DeleteRegular />} onClick={onDelete} />

✅ Fix: Add aria-label

<Tooltip content="Delete selected items" relationship="description">
  <ToolbarButton aria-label="Delete selected items" icon={<DeleteRegular />} onClick={onDelete} />
</Tooltip>

5. Decorative Elements Not Hidden

❌ Problem: Progress bar announced unnecessarily

<ProgressBar thickness="large" />

✅ Fix: Hide decorative elements

<ProgressBar thickness="large" aria-hidden={true} />

6. Input Missing Accessible Name

❌ Problem: SpinButton/Input without accessible name

<SpinButton value={skipValue} onChange={onSkipChange} />
<Input placeholder="Enter query..." />

✅ Fix: Add aria-label or associate with label element

<SpinButton aria-label="Skip documents" value={skipValue} onChange={onSkipChange} />
<Label htmlFor="query-input">Query</Label>
<Input id="query-input" placeholder="Enter query..." />

7. Visible Label Not in Accessible Name

❌ Problem: aria-label doesn't contain visible text (breaks voice control)

<ToolbarButton aria-label="Reload data" icon={<RefreshIcon />}>
  Refresh
</ToolbarButton>

✅ Fix: Accessible name must contain visible label exactly

<ToolbarButton aria-label="Refresh data" icon={<RefreshIcon />}>
  Refresh
</ToolbarButton>

Voice control users say "click Refresh" – only works if accessible name contains "Refresh".

8. Status Changes Not Announced

❌ Problem: Screen reader doesn't announce dynamic content

<span>{isLoading ? 'Loading...' : `${count} results`}</span>

✅ Fix: Use the Announcer component

import { Announcer } from '../../api/webview-client/accessibility';

// Announces when `when` transitions from false to true
<Announcer when={isLoading} message={l10n.t('Loading...')} />

// Dynamic message based on state
<Announcer
    when={!isLoading && documentCount !== undefined}
    message={documentCount > 0 ? l10n.t('Results found') : l10n.t('No results found')}
/>

Use for: loading states, search results, success/error messages.

9. Dialog Opens Without Focus Move

❌ Problem: Focus stays on trigger when modal opens

{
  isOpen && <Dialog>...</Dialog>;
}

✅ Fix: Move focus programmatically

const dialogRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);

useEffect(() => {
  if (isOpen) dialogRef.current?.focus();
}, [isOpen]);

{
  isOpen && (
    <Dialog ref={dialogRef} tabIndex={-1} aria-modal="true">
      ...
    </Dialog>
  );
}

10. Related Controls Without Group Label

❌ Problem: Buttons share visual label but screen reader misses context

<span>How would you rate this?</span>
<Button>👍</Button>
<Button>👎</Button>

✅ Fix: Use role="group" with aria-labelledby

<div role="group" aria-labelledby="rating-label">
  <span id="rating-label">How would you rate this?</span>
  <Button aria-label="I like it">👍</Button>
  <Button aria-label="I don't like it">👎</Button>
</div>

When to Use aria-hidden

DO use on:

Visible text when aria-label provides complete context
Decorative icons, spinners, progress bars
Visual separators (`|`, `—`)

DO NOT use on:

The only accessible content (hides it completely)
Interactive/focusable elements
Error messages or alerts

focusableBadge Pattern

For keyboard-accessible badges with tooltips:

Import: `import '../components/focusableBadge/focusableBadge.scss';`
Apply attributes:

<Badge tabIndex={0} className="focusableBadge" aria-label="Visible text. Tooltip details">
  <span aria-hidden="true">Visible text</span>
</Badge>

Screen Reader Announcements

Use the Announcer component for WCAG 4.1.3 (Status Messages) compliance.

import { Announcer } from '../../api/webview-client/accessibility';

Basic Usage

// Announces "AI is analyzing..." when isLoading becomes true
<Announcer when={isLoading} message={l10n.t('AI is analyzing...')} />

// Dynamic message based on state (e.g., query results)
<Announcer
    when={!isLoading && documentCount !== undefined}
    message={documentCount > 0 ? l10n.t('Results found') : l10n.t('No results found')}
/>

// With assertive politeness (default is polite)
<Announcer when={hasError} message={l10n.t('Error occurred')} politeness="assertive" />

Props

when: Announces when this transitions from false to true
message: The message to announce (use l10n.t() for localization)
politeness: 'assertive' (default, interrupts) or 'polite' (waits for idle)

Key Points

Placement doesn't matter - screen readers monitor all live regions regardless of DOM position; place near related UI for code readability
Store relevant state (e.g., documentCount) to derive dynamic messages
Use l10n.t() for messages - announcements must be localized
Condition resets automatically - when when goes back to false, it's ready for the next announcement
Prefer 'assertive' for user-initiated actions, 'polite' for background updates

Quick Checklist

References

WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard
WCAG 2.4.3 Focus Order
WCAG 2.5.3 Label in Name
WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value
WCAG 4.1.3 Status Messages
See src/webviews/components/focusableBadge/focusableBadge.md for the Badge pattern

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