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aria-sort attribute (aria)

Screen Reader support level: partial (33/55)

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About this feature

Indicates if items in a table or grid are sorted in ascending or descending order.

Age of results

Results across all tests for this feature range from 3 years ago to 4 years ago. Detailed dates and version information can be found in associated tests.

Caution

Failing or partial results may be out of date. The oldest result is from 4 years ago. Consider running the associated tests and contributing results.

Expectations

What are expectations?

Screen Reader support by expectation

ExpectationJAWSNarratorNVDAOrcaTalkBackVoiceOver (iOS)VoiceOver (macOS)
ChromeEdgeFirefoxEdgeChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefoxChromeSafariSafari
MUST convey the 'ascending' valuesupportedunknownsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportednonenonesupportedsupported
MUST convey the 'descending' valuesupportedunknownsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportednonenonesupportedsupported
MUST convey the 'none' value either by omitting any sort information or by indicating that the header is unsorted but sortablesupportedunknownsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupported
SHOULD convey the 'none' value by indicating that the header is unsorted but sortablenoneunknownnonenonenonenonenonenonenonenonenone
MUST convey the 'other' valuesupportedunknownsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportednonenonenonenone
MUST convey changes to the sort valuenoneunknownsupportednonenonenonenonenonenonenonenone

Expectation: convey the 'ascending' value

Rationale:

Screen reader users need to be aware that the data associated with the header is currently sorted in ascending order.

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

  • Screen Readers: MUST
  • Voice Control: NA

Examples:

  • Screen readers will convey the 'ascending' value as something like "sorted ascending" or "sort up" when navigating to the header or one of its cells.
Screen Reader support for 'MUST convey the 'ascending' value'
TestJAWSNarratorNVDAOrcaTalkBackVoiceOver (iOS)VoiceOver (macOS)
ChromeEdgeFirefoxEdgeChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefoxChromeSafariSafari
aria-sort test applied to: th elementsupportedunknownsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportednonenonesupportedsupported

Expectation: convey the 'descending' value

Rationale:

Screen reader users need to be aware that the data associated with the header is currently sorted in descending order.

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

  • Screen Readers: MUST
  • Voice Control: NA

Examples:

  • Screen readers will convey the 'descending' value as something like "sorted descending" or "sort down" when navigating to the header or one of its cells.
Screen Reader support for 'MUST convey the 'descending' value'
TestJAWSNarratorNVDAOrcaTalkBackVoiceOver (iOS)VoiceOver (macOS)
ChromeEdgeFirefoxEdgeChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefoxChromeSafariSafari
aria-sort test applied to: th elementsupportedunknownsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportednonenonesupportedsupported

Expectation: convey the 'none' value either by omitting any sort information or by indicating that the header is unsorted but sortable

Rationale:

Screen reader users need to be aware that the data associated with the header is not currently sorted. They may also benefit from knowing that the data is sortable.

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

  • Screen Readers: MUST
  • Voice Control: NA

Examples:

  • Screen readers will convey the 'none' value by omitting any sort announcements when navigating to the header or one of its cells.
Screen Reader support for 'MUST convey the 'none' value either by omitting any sort information or by indicating that the header is unsorted but sortable'
TestJAWSNarratorNVDAOrcaTalkBackVoiceOver (iOS)VoiceOver (macOS)
ChromeEdgeFirefoxEdgeChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefoxChromeSafariSafari
aria-sort test applied to: th elementsupportedunknownsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupported

Expectation: convey the 'none' value by indicating that the header is unsorted but sortable

Rationale:

Developers may use the 'none' value to indicate to screen reader users that a header is sortable but currently unsorted. However, this behavior is not broadly adopted across screen readers and may diverge from the normative ARIA spec.

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

  • Screen Readers: SHOULD
  • Voice Control: NA

Notes:

For more information, see #133

Examples:

  • Screen readers may convey the 'none' value by indicating that the header is sortable but omitting a current sort direction.
Screen Reader support for 'SHOULD convey the 'none' value by indicating that the header is unsorted but sortable'
TestJAWSNarratorNVDAOrcaTalkBackVoiceOver (iOS)VoiceOver (macOS)
ChromeEdgeFirefoxEdgeChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefoxChromeSafariSafari
aria-sort test applied to: th elementnoneunknownnonenonenonenonenonenonenonenonenone

Expectation: convey the 'other' value

Rationale:

Screen reader users need to be aware that the data associated with the header is currently sorted in something other than ascending or descending order.

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

  • Screen Readers: MUST
  • Voice Control: NA

Examples:

  • Screen readers will convey the 'other' value as something like "sorted" or "sorted other" when navigating to the header or one of its cells.
Screen Reader support for 'MUST convey the 'other' value'
TestJAWSNarratorNVDAOrcaTalkBackVoiceOver (iOS)VoiceOver (macOS)
ChromeEdgeFirefoxEdgeChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefoxChromeSafariSafari
aria-sort test applied to: th elementsupportedunknownsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportednonenonenonenone

Expectation: convey changes to the sort value

Rationale:

The user needs to know that the value was successfully changed.

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

  • Screen Readers: MUST
  • Voice Control: NA

Examples:

  • Screen readers will convey the new sort value after activating a button to change the sort direction.
Screen Reader support for 'MUST convey changes to the sort value'
TestJAWSNarratorNVDAOrcaTalkBackVoiceOver (iOS)VoiceOver (macOS)
ChromeEdgeFirefoxEdgeChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefoxChromeSafariSafari
aria-sort test applied to: th elementnoneunknownsupportednonenonenonenonenonenonenonenone
TestLast update
aria-sort test2021-07-28

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