optgroup element (html)

Expectation: convey its role

Rationale:

A screen reader user needs to know that options are in a group.

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

• Screen Readers: MUST
• Voice Control: NA

Examples:

• A screen reader might convey the group role.

Expectation: convey its name

Rationale:

A screen reader user needs to know what to enter.

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

• Screen Readers: MUST
• Voice Control: NA

Notes:

For form inputs - commands to read line by line (down and up arrows in most windows screen readers) will not always result in the name being explicitly conveyed when the virtual focus is moved to an input where the label is visually displayed and programmatically associated with the input. This is acceptable because the name is implied by the fact that it should be naturally found in the reading order. Some screen readers choose to not convey the name in these cases, likely in an effort to reduce verbosity.

Expectation: convey the boundaries of the element

Rationale:

A user needs to know when they enter and exit an element

Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:

• Screen Readers: MUST
• Voice Control: NA

Examples:

• A screen reader might announce the role of the element when entering and say something like "leaving" when exiting.
• A screen reader might not explicitly announce entering and existing the element, but instead imply that the is in the containing object by conveying the roles of required children (options in a listbox for example).
• A screen reader might announce position in set information such as "1 of 6".
• A screen reader might not convey boundaries if the content fits on a single line