Utilities for creating accessible HTML based on the latest ARIA 1.3 specs and latest HTML in ARIA recommendations. Lightweight, performant, tree-shakeable, and 0 dependencies.

This is designed to be a better replacement for aria-query when working with HTML. The reasons are:

html-aria is designed to reduce mistakes, while aria-query’s APIs are easy to “hold it wrong.” The information may not be incorrect, but often are locked behind several successful operations you must know to connect to get the right result.
html-aria and aria-query both follow the ARIA 1.3 spec, but that’s only one part. There are also the HTML Accessibility API Mappings and HTML to ARIA specs that are critical to working with HTML. While aria-query follows these other documents when it can, its design makes it difficult to apply the advice from all specs, often producing incomplete or incorrect results.
html-aria supports ARIA 1.3 while aria-query is still on ARIA 1.2

html-aria is also ESM-compatible and more performant.

Usage

Setup

npm i html-aria

Environments

This library works both in Node.js and the browser. But works best when the DOM is accessible, either the actual DOM or a virtualized one like JSDOM. The reason is the spec requires DOM traversal—identifying an element’s context in parents and children, as well as attributes of the element. In a DOM environment, html-aria will do all the work for you; in Node.js you must provide complete information about attributes, and sometimes ancestors.

Examples

Though this library is NOT a lint plugin, it can do most of the work for you. You only need to traverse the AST of the language you’re using (e.g. HTML vs React vs Svelte), and html-aria can validate the nodes.

Node.js (ESLint + React plugin)

import { ESLintUtils, TSESTree } from "@typescript-eslint/utils";
import {
  getSupportedAttributes,
  type AriaAttribute,
  type TagName,
} from "html-aria";

const createRule = ESLintUtils.RuleCreator(
  (name) => `https://example.com/rule/${name}`
);

export default createRule({
  name: "no-unsupported-aria",
  meta: {
    type: "problem",
    docs: { description: "Ensure that ARIA attributes match their role" },
    messages: {
      "not-allowed": "Attribute {{ name }} not allowed",
    },
  },
  create(context) {
    return {
      JSXOpeningElement(node) {
        if (node.name.type !== TSESTree.AST_NODE_TYPES.JSXIdentifier) {
          return; // this is a React component; ignore
        }

        const tagName = node.name.name as TagName;

        // 1. assemble attributes into a map
        const attributes: Record<
          string,
          string | number | boolean | undefined | null
        > = {};
        for (const attr of node.attributes) {
          if (
            attr.type === TSESTree.JSXSpreadAttribute ||
            attr.name.type === TSESTree.JSXNamespacedName ||
            attr.value?.type === TSESTree.Literal
          ) {
            continue;
          }
          attributes[attr.name.name] = attr.value.value as
            | string
            | number
            | boolean
            | undefined
            | null;
        }

        // 2. get supported attributes from html-aria (which MUST include the attributes to work properly)
        const tag: VirtualElement = { tagName, attributes };
        const supportedAttributes = getSupportedAttributes(tag);

        // 3. validate
        for (const attr of node.attributes) {
          if (attr.type !== TSESTree.AST_NODE_TYPES.JSXAttribute) {
            continue;
          }
          const name =
            typeof attr.name.name === "string"
              ? attr.name.name
              : (attr.name.name.name as ARIAAttribute);
          if (name.startsWith("aria-") && !supportedAttributes.includes(name)) {
            context.report({
              node: name,
              messageId: "not-allowed",
              data: { name },
            });
          }
        }
      },
    };
  },
});

Have an improvement to suggest? Please open a PR!

API

getRole()

Determine which HTML maps to which default ARIA role.

import { getRole } from "html-aria";

// DOM
const el = document.querySelector("article");
getRole(el); // "article"

// Node.js (no DOM)
getRole({ tagName: "input", attributes: { type: "checkbox" } }); // "checkbox"
getRole({ tagName: "div", attributes: { role: "button" } }); // "button"

It’s important to note that inferring ARIA roles from HTML isn’t always straightforward! There are 3 types of role inference:

Tag map: 1 tag → 1 ARIA role.
Tag + attribute map: Tags + attributes are needed to determine the ARIA role (e.g. input[type="radio"] → radio)
Tag + DOM tree: Tags + DOM tree structure are needed to determine the ARIA role.

See a list of all elements.

getSupportedRoles() / isSupportedRole()

The spec dictates that certain elements may NOT receive certain roles. For example, <div role="button"> is allowed (not recommended, but allowed), but <select role="button"> is not. getSupportedRoles() will return all valid roles for a given element + attributes.

import { getSupportedRoles } from "html-aria";

// DOM
const el = document.querySelector("img");
getSupportedRoles(el); // ["none", "presentation", "img"]

// Node.js (no DOM)
getSupportedRoles({ tagName: "img", attributes: { alt: "Image caption" } }); //  ["button", "checkbox", "link", (15 more)]

There is also a helper method isSupportedRole() to make individual assertions:

import { isSupportedRole } from "html-aria";

isSupportedRole({ tagName: "select" }, "combobox"); // true
isSupportedRole(
  { tagName: "select", attributes: { multiple: true } },
  "listbox"
); // true
isSupportedRole({ tagName: "select" }, "listbox"); // false
isSupportedRole({ tagName: "select" }, "button"); // false

getSupportedAttributes() / isSupportedAttribute()

For any element, list all supported aria-* attributes, including attributes inherited from superclasses. This takes in an HTML element, not an ARIA role, because in some cases the HTML element actually affects the list (see full list).

import { getSupportedAttributes } from "html-aria";

getSupportedAttributes({ tagName: "button" }); // ["aria-atomic", "aria-braillelabel", …]

If you want to look up by ARIA role instead, just pass in a placeholder element:

getSupportedAttributes({ tagName: "div", attributes: { role: "combobox" } });

There’s also a helper method isSupportedAttribute() to test individual attributes:

import { isSupportedAttribute } from "html-aria";

isSupportedAttribute({ tagName: "button" }, "aria-pressed"); // true
isSupportedAttribute({ tagName: "button" }, "aria-checked"); // false

It’s worth noting that HTML elements may factor in according to the spec—providing the role isn’t enough. See aria-* attributes from HTML.

getElements()

Return all HTML elements that represent a given ARIA role, if any. If no HTML elements represent this role, undefined will be returned. This is essentially the inverse of getRole().

import { getElements } from "html-aria";

getElements("button"); // [{ tagName: "button" }]
getElements("radio"); // [{ tagName: 'input', attributes: { type: "radio" } }]
getElements("rowheader"); // [{ tagName: "th", attributes: { scope: "row" } }]
getElements("tab"); // undefined

Worth noting that this is slightly-different from a related concept or base concept.

isInteractive()

Return true if a given HTML tag may be interacted with or not.

isInteractive({ tagName: "button" }); // true
isInteractive({ tagName: "div" }); // false
isInteractive({ tagName: "div", attributes: { tabindex: 0 } }); // false
isInteractive({ tagName: "div", attributes: { role: "button", tabindex: 0 } }); // true
isInteractive({ tagName: "hr" }); // false
isInteractive({
  tagName: "hr",
  attributes: { tabindex: 0, "aria-valuenow": 10 },
}); // true (see https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-1.3/#separator)

![WARNING]

This doesn’t check for display: none, which could be applied with CSS that would make any element non-interactive.

The methodology for this follows the complete ARIA specification:

If the role is a widget or window subclass, then it is interactive
- If the element manually specifies role, and if it natively is NOT a widget or window role, tabindex must also be supplied
If the element is disabled or aria-disabled, then it is NOT interactive
Handle some explicit edge cases like separator

Note that aria-hidden elements MAY be interactive (even if it’s not best practice) as a part of 2.4.5 Multiple Ways if an alternative is made for screenreaders, etc.

isNameRequired()

For a role, return whether or not an accessible name is required for screenreaders.

import { isNameRequired } from "html-aria";

isNameRequired("link"); // true
isNameRequired("cell"); // false

Note: this does NOT mean aria-label is required! Quite the opposite—if a name is required, it’s always best to have the name visible in content. See ARIA 1.3 Accessible Name Calculation for more info.

isValidAttributeValue()

Some aria-* attributes require specific values. isValidAttributeValue() returns false if, given a specific aria-* attribute, the value is invalid according to the spec.

import { isValidAttributeValue } from "html-aria";

// string attributes
// Note: string attributes will always return `true` except for an empty string
isValidAttributeValue("aria-label", "This is a label"); // true
isValidAttributeValue("aria-label", ""); // false

// boolean attributes
isValidAttributeValue("aria-disabled", true); // true
isValidAttributeValue("aria-disabled", false); // true
isValidAttributeValue("aria-disabled", "true"); // true
isValidAttributeValue("aria-disabled", 1); // false
isValidAttributeValue("aria-disabled", "disabled"); // false

// enum attributes
isValidAttributeValue("aria-checked", "true"); // true
isValidAttributeValue("aria-checked", "mixed"); // true
isValidAttributeValue("aria-checked", "checked"); // false

// number attributes
isValidAttribute("aria-valuenow", "15"); // true
isValidAttribute("aria-valuenow", 15); // true
isValidAttribute("aria-valuenow", 0); // true

⚠️ Be mindful of cases where a valid value may still be valid, but invoke different behavior according to the ARIA role, e.g. mixed behavior for radio/menuitemradio/switch

Reference

ARIA roles from HTML

This outlines the requirements to adhere to the W3C spec when it comes to inferring the correct ARIA roles from HTML. Essentially, there are 3 types of inference:

Tag map: 1 tag → 1 ARIA role.
Tag + attribute map: Tags + attributes are needed to determine the ARIA role (e.g. input[type="radio"] → radio)
Tag + DOM tree: Tags + DOM tree structure are needed to determine the ARIA role.

Here are all the HTML elements where either attributes, hierarchy, or both are necessary to determine the correct role. Any HTML elements not listed here follow the simple “tag map” approach (keep in mind that aria-* attributes may not follow the same rules!).

Element	Role	Attribute-based	Hierarchy-based
a	`generic` \| `link`	✅
area	`generic` \| `link`	✅
footer	`contentinfo` \| `generic`		✅
header	`banner` \| `generic`		✅
input	`button` \| `checkbox` \| `combobox` \| `radio` \| `searchbox` \| `slider` \| `spinbutton` \| `textbox`	✅
li	`listitem` \| `generic`		✅
section	`generic` \| `region`	✅
select	`combobox` \| `listbox`	✅
td	`cell`\| `gridcell` \| —		✅
th	`columnheader` \| `rowheader` \| —	✅	✅

Note: — = no corresponding role

aria-* attributes from HTML

Further, a common mistake many simple accessibility libraries make is mapping aria-* attributes to ARIA roles. While that mostly works, there are a few exceptions where HTML information is needed. That is why getSupportedAttributes() takes an HTML element. Here is a full list:

Element	Default Role	Notes
audio	—	Accepts `application` aria-* attributes by default
base	`generic`	No aria-* attributes allowed
body	`generic`	Does NOT allow `aria-hidden="true"`
br	`generic`	No aria-* attributes allowed EXCEPT `aria-hidden`
col	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
colgroup	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
datalist	`listbox`	No aria-* attributes allowed
head	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
html	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
img (no `alt`)	`none`	No aria-* attributes allowed EXCEPT `aria-hidden`
input[type=checkbox]	—	Forbids `aria-checked`
input[type=color]	—	Acts as a generic element but allows `aria-disabled`
input[type=files]	—	Acts as a generic element but allows `aria-disabled`, `aria-invalid`, and `aria-required`
input[type=hidden]	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
input[type=radio]	—	Forbids `aria-checked`
link	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
map	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
meta	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
noscript	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
picture	—	No aria-* attributes allowed EXCEPT `aria-hidden`
script	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
slot	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
source	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
style	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
summary	—	Allows `aria-disabled` and `aria-haspopup` regardless of role
template	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
title	—	No aria-* attributes allowed
track	—	No aria-* attributes allowed EXCEPT `aria-hidden`
video	—	Accepts `application` aria-* attributes by default
wbr	—	No aria-* attributes allowed EXCEPT `aria-hidden`

Note: — = no corresponding role. Also worth pointing out that in other cases, global aria-* attributes are allowed, so this is unique to the element and NOT the ARIA role.

Discrepancies between specs

Though the HTML in ARIA spec was the foundation for this library, at points it conflicts with AAM. We also have browsers sometimes showing inconsistent roles, too. For these discrepancies, we compare what the specs recommend, along with the library’s current decision in an attempt to follow the most helpful path.

Element	HTML in ARIA	AAM	Browsers*	html-aria
`<dd>`	No corresponding role	`definition`	`definition`	`definition`
`<dl>`	No corresponding role	`list`	(inconsistent)	No corresponding role
`<dt>`	No corresponding role	`term`	`term`	`term`
`<figcaption>`	No corresponding role	`caption`	`caption` (`Figcaption` in Chrome)	`caption`
`<mark>`	No corresponding role	`mark`	`mark`	`mark`
`<svg>`	`graphics-document`	`graphics-document`	`graphics-document` (Firefox), `img` (Chrome), `generic` (Safari)	`graphics-document`

* Chrome 132, Safari 18, Firefox 135.

Node.js vs DOM behavior

Node.js ignores necessary ancestor-based roles

There are 2 categories of context-dependent element usage: necessary and conditional.

“Necessary“ context elements require certain parents to use correctly, like table-based elements (<tr>, <td>, <th>, etc.) requiring table parents (<table>, <table role="grid">, etc.) and list-based elements <li> requiring list parents (<ol>, <ul>, <menu>, etc.). Without their parents, they have no purpose and their behavior is unpredictable, with some browsers even stripping elements out of the DOM. These elements will 99% of the time be used in their intended contexts.

The DOM environment follows the ARIA spec. But in a Node.js context, it’s likely we are statically analyzing a component where the parents aren’t immediatly reachable—they may be in another file. If we assume the elements are used correctly even when we can’t see the ancestors, we can show more accurate errors and warnings, rather than requiring the consumer to do work that is technically and computationally difficult.

So for the reasons above, assuming the elements are used out of context is more likely to result in less predictable behavior that could lead to mistakes. To treat elements as if they are used out of their context in Node.js, pass an empty ancestors array as an explicit way to declare it.

import { getRole } from "html-aria";

getRole({ tagName: "td" }, { ancestors: [] }); // undefined
getRole({ tagName: "th" }, { ancestors: [] }); // undefined
getRole({ tagName: "li" }, { ancestors: [] }); // "generic"

These are all the elements that have assumed context (i.e. different behavior in Node.js): <col>, <colgroup>, <caption>, <li>, <rowgroup>, <tbody>, <td>, <tfoot>, <th>, <thead>, <tr>.

“Conditional” context elements may either have certain parents or not, all of which are valid. <aside> used in the body is a landmark complementary role; inside a <section> it’s generic (unless it has an accessible name, then it’s complementary again). <header> is a banner landmark itself, or inside another landmark is generic. Since there’s no “wrong” usage here, In Node.js they behave as expected, so they don’t deviate from DOM behavior or the spec.

import { getRole } from "html-aria";

getRole({ tagName: "header" }); // "banner"
getRole({ tagName: "header" }, { ancestors: [{ tagName: "main" }]); // "generic"
getRole({ tagName: "aside" }); // "complementary"
getRole({ tagName: "aside" }, { ancestors: [{ tagName: "section" }] } }); // "generic"

FAQ

Why the `{ tagName: string }` object syntax?

Most of the time this library will be used in a Node.js environment, likely outside the DOM (e.g. an ESLint plugin traversing an AST). While most methods also allow an HTMLElement as input, the object syntax is universal and works in any context.

What’s the difference between “no corresponding role” and the `none` role?

From the spec:

No corresponding role

The elements marked with No corresponding role, in the second column of the table do not have any implicit ARIA semantics, but they do have meaning and this meaning may be represented in roles, states and properties not provided by ARIA, and exposed to users of assistive technology via accessibility APIs. It is therefore recommended that authors add a role attribute to a semantically neutral element such as a div or span, rather than overriding the semantics of the listed elements.

none role

An element whose implicit native role semantics will not be mapped to the accessibility API. See synonym presentation.

In other words, none is more of a decisive “this element is presentational and can be ignored” labeling, while “no corresponding role” means “this element doesn’t have predefined behavior that can be automatically determined, and the author should provide additional information such as explicit roles and ARIA states and properties.”

In html-aria, “no corresponding role” is represented as undefined.

What is the difference between “unsupported attributes” and “prohibited attributes?”

In the spec, you’ll find language describing both roles and attributes in 4 categories:

Supported and recommended: valid and recommended to use
Supported but not recommended: valid, but may cause unpredictable behavior
Unsupported, but not prohibited: these are omitted both from supported and prohibited lists
Unsupported and prohibited: explicitly prohibited

As stated in Project Goals, html-aria aims to not conflate non-normative recommendations as normative guidelines. So in the API, getSupportedRoles() and getSupportedAttributes() will return 1 and 2, but not 3 or 4.

While there is a technical distinction between 3 and 4, for the purposees of html-aria they’re treated the same (because 3 specifically is not explicitly allowed, we can make a choice to read it as prohibited).

About

Project Goals

Implement all ARIA spec docs, not just the roles specification
Stick to normative guidelines (i.e. only implement “MUST” language, not “SHOULD”—the latter is the area of linters)
Reduce mistakes with explicit methods and user-friendly API design.