Important: This website does not attempt to establish a standard for how assistive technologies must behave. Read the FAQ for more information. Additionally, this is a work in progress. Please submit feedback or suggestions.

menu role (aria)

Screen Reader support level: partial (25/33)

On this page

About this feature

A type of widget that offers a list of choices to the user.

Age of results

Results across all tests for this feature range from 4 months ago to 6 years ago. Detailed dates and version information can be found in associated tests.

Failing and partial results are between 4 months ago and 4 years ago.

Expectations

What are expectations?

Screen Reader support by expectation

ExpectationJAWSNarratorNVDAOrcaTalkBackVoiceOver (iOS)VoiceOver (macOS)
ChromeEdgeFirefoxEdgeChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefoxChromeSafariSafari
MUST convey its rolesupportedsupportedsupportedsupportednonenonesupportedsupportedsupportednonesupported
MUST convey the name if namedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportednonenonesupportedsupportedsupportednonenone
MUST convey the boundaries of the menusupportedsupportedsupportednonesupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupported

Expectation: convey its role

Rationale:

A screen reader user needs to be aware that elements are within a menu

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

  • Screen Readers: MUST
  • Voice Control: NA

Examples:

  • Some screen readers will explicitly convey the menu role as something like "<name> menu"
  • The role may be implied by the presence of menuitem children
Screen Reader support for 'MUST convey its role'
TestJAWSNarratorNVDAOrcaTalkBackVoiceOver (iOS)VoiceOver (macOS)
ChromeEdgeFirefoxEdgeChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefoxChromeSafariSafari
APG Actions Menu Button Example Using aria-activedescendantsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportednonenonesupportedsupportedsupportednonesupported

Expectation: convey the name if named

Rationale:

A screen reader user needs to be aware of the name of menu

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

  • Screen Readers: MUST
  • Voice Control: NA

Examples:

  • The accessible name of the menu is announced when entering the menu.
Screen Reader support for 'MUST convey the name if named'
TestJAWSNarratorNVDAOrcaTalkBackVoiceOver (iOS)VoiceOver (macOS)
ChromeEdgeFirefoxEdgeChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefoxChromeSafariSafari
APG Actions Menu Button Example Using aria-activedescendantsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportednonenonesupportedsupportedsupportednonenone

Expectation: convey the boundaries of the menu

Rationale:

A screen reader user needs to be aware when they enter and exit a menu

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

  • Screen Readers: MUST
  • Voice Control: NA

Examples:

  • Boundaries may be implied by posinset information
  • Boundaries may be implied by no longer conveying the menu item role (if the role is explicitly conveyed)
  • Boundaries may be implied by looping back to the top of the menu
  • Boundaries may be explicitly conveyed by announcing something like "<name> menu" when entering and "exiting menu" when leaving
Screen Reader support for 'MUST convey the boundaries of the menu'
TestJAWSNarratorNVDAOrcaTalkBackVoiceOver (iOS)VoiceOver (macOS)
ChromeEdgeFirefoxEdgeChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefoxChromeSafariSafari
APG Actions Menu Button Example Using aria-activedescendantsupportedsupportedsupportednonesupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupportedsupported
TestLast update
APG Actions Menu Button Example Using aria-activedescendant2025-09-09

Is something not right?

We use our GitHub repository to manage our issue tracking. Please provide as much information as you can for issues, and please leave the id in the issue title intact.

Create an issue for this feature