WAI-ARIA Overview

Introduction

WAI-ARIA, the Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite, defines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies. Currently certain functionality used in Web sites is not available to some users with disabilities, especially people who rely on screen readers and people who cannot use a mouse. WAI-ARIA addresses these accessibility challenges, for example, by defining new ways for functionality to be provided to assistive technology. With WAI-ARIA, developers can make advanced Web applications accessible and usable to people with disabilities.

This page describes the problems that WAI-ARIA addresses, and introduces the WAI-ARIA suite of technical documents. Many of the terms used in this page—including Web content, user agents, and assistive technology—are described in Introduction to Web Accessibility and Essential Components of Web Accessibility. Additional information is available in:

Blog post Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0 is a W3C Recommendation
Press release: W3C’s Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0 Expands Accessibility of the Open Web Platform
WAI-ARIA FAQ answers questions such as: “What happens in current and older browsers when WAI-ARIA is implemented?” and “As a Web content developer, what should I do with WAI-ARIA now?”

Web sites are increasingly using more advanced and complex user interface controls, such as tree controls for Web site navigation like the example in Figure 1. To provide an accessible user experience to people with disabilities, assistive technologies need to be able to interact with these controls. However, the information that the assistive technologies need is not available with most current Web technologies.

Another example of an accessibility barrier is drag-and-drop functionality that is not available to users who use a keyboard only and cannot use a mouse. Even relatively simple Web sites can be difficult if they require an extensive amount of keystrokes to navigate with only a keyboard.

Many Web applications developed with Ajax (also known as AJAX), DHTML, and other technologies pose additional accessibility challenges. For example, if the content of a Web page changes in response to user actions or time- or event-based updates, that new content may not be available to some people, such as people who are blind or people with cognitive disabilities who use a screen reader.

WAI-ARIA addresses these accessibility challenges by defining how information about this functionality can be provided to assistive technology. With WAI-ARIA, an advanced Web application can be made accessible and usable to people with disabilities.

Technical Solutions

More specifically, WAI-ARIA provides a framework for adding attributes to identify features for user interaction, how they relate to each other, and their current state. WAI-ARIA describes new navigation techniques to mark regions and common Web structures as menus, primary content, secondary content, banner information, and other types of Web structures. For example, with WAI-ARIA, developers can identify regions of pages and enable keyboard users to easily move among regions, rather than having to press Tab many times.

WAI-ARIA also includes technologies to map controls, Ajax live regions, and events to accessibility application programming interfaces (APIs), including custom controls used for rich Internet applications. WAI-ARIA techniques apply to widgets such as buttons, drop-down lists, calendar functions, tree controls (for example, expandable menus), and others.

WAI-ARIA provides Web authors with the following:

Roles to describe the type of widget presented, such as “menu”, “treeitem”, “slider”, and “progressmeter”
Roles to describe the structure of the Web page, such as headings, regions, and tables (grids)
Properties to describe the state widgets are in, such as “checked” for a check box, or “haspopup” for a menu.
Properties to define live regions of a page that are likely to get updates (such as stock quotes), as well as an interruption policy for those updates—for example, critical updates may be presented in an alert dialog box, and incidental updates occur within the page
Properties for drag-and-drop that describe drag sources and drop targets
A way to provide keyboard navigation for the Web objects and events, such as those mentioned above

Versions 1.0, 1.1, future

WAI-ARIA 1.0 was published as a completed W3C Recommendation on 20 March 2014.
WAI-ARIA 1.1 is expected to include only a few changes from 1.0. [Most potential changes will be considered for WAI-ARIA 2.0.]

The latest status is updated in the FAQ: What is the current status of WAI-ARIA development?

WAI-ARIA 1.1

The 1.1 version will extend WAI-ARIA 1.0 to provide a small number of features to complete the HTML + ARIA accessibility model. It is intended complement HTML 5.1. For 1.1, user agent implementation guidance is provided as a suite of accessibility API mapping specifications that describe how to expose semantics of WAI-ARIA and other web content languages to accessibility APIs.

Published WAI-ARIA 1.1 Working Drafts are as follows:

WAI-ARIA 1.1 technical specification, provides features to define accessible user interface elements and in order to improve the accessibility and interoperability of web content and applications. It is primarily for developers of Web browsers, assistive technologies, and other user agents; developers of Web technologies (technical specifications); and developers of accessibility evaluation tools.
Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module 1.0, extends WAI-ARIA 1.1 to define an ontology of roles, states, and properties specific to digital publishing. It facilitates automated processing and accessibility support by providing semantics that are not included in base languages such as HTML. It allows authors to convey structural information to assistive technologies, and to enable semantic navigation, styling, and interactive features used by readers.
Graphics WAI-ARIA Module 1.0, extends WAI-ARIA 1.1 to allow an author to express the logical structure of the graphic to assistive technologies. Assistive technologies could then enable semantic navigation and adapt styling and interactive features, to provide an optimal experience for the audience.
Core Accessibility API Mappings 1.1, describes how user agents should expose semantics of web content languages to accessibility APIs. The core module defines support that applies across multiple content technologies, including general keyboard navigation support and mapping of general-purpose WAI-ARIA features; other specifications will extend this for specific technologies.
Accessible Name and Description: Computation and API Mappings 1.1, describes how user agents determine names and descriptions of accessible objects from web content languages and expose them in accessibility APIs. This allows assistive technologies to associate and relay the name or description of objects to users.
Digital Publishing Accessibility API Mappings 1.0, extends Core Accessibility API Mappings 1.1 to define how user agents map roles in the Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module to platform accessibility application programming interfaces (APIs).
HTML Accessibility API Mappings 1.0, extends Core Accessibility API Mappings 1.1 and Accessible Name and Description: Computation and API Mappings 1.1 to define how user agents map HTML markup to platform accessibility application programming interfaces (APIs). Provides HTML-specific guidance for how the HTML user agent must respond to keyboard focus, native HTML features, and role, state and property attributes provided via WAI-ARIA.
SVG Accessibility API Mappings 1.0, extends Core Accessibility API Mappings 1.1 to define how user agents map SVG markup to platform accessibility application programming interfaces (APIs). When supported by user agents, its features allow SVG authors to create accessible rich internet applications, including charts, graphs, and other drawings. Provides SVG-specific guidance for how the SVG user agent must respond to keyboard focus, native SVG features, and role, state and property attributes provided via WAI-ARIA.
WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices 1.1, recommends approaches to help web application developers make widgets, navigation, and behaviors accessible using WAI-ARIA roles, states, and properties. It describes considerations that might not be evident to most authors from the WAI-ARIA specification which is oriented primarily at user agent implementers.

Additional documents are expected in this suite, including other accessibility API mappings and updated authoring guidance. Editors’ drafts under development can be accessed in the WAI-ARIA GitHub Repository.

WAI-ARIA 1.0

In-progress “Editors’ Drafts” of the WAI-ARIA documents are available from the Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) Working Group.

Published WAI-ARIA Working Drafts are as follows:

WAI-ARIA technical specification, a completed W3C Recommendation Web standard, combines the two previously-published WAI-ARIA draft specifications: Roles for Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA Roles) and the States and Properties Module for Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA States and Properties). It is primarily for developers of Web browsers, assistive technologies, and other user agents; developers of Web technologies (technical specifications); and developers of accessibility evaluation tools.
WAI-ARIA User Agent Implementation Guide, a completed W3C Recommendation Web standard, describes how browsers and other user agents should support WAI-ARIA; specifically, how to expose WAI-ARIA features to platform accessibility APIs.
WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices, describes how Web content developers can develop accessible rich internet applications using WAI-ARIA. It provides detailed advice and examples directed primarily to Web application developers, yet also useful to user agent and assistive technology developers. This document has been retired and replaced by WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices 1.1.
WAI-ARIA Primer introduces developers to the accessibility problems that WAI-ARIA is intended to solve, the fundamental concepts, and the technical approach of WAI-ARIA. This document has been retired and replaced by WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices 1.1.
WAI-ARIA Roadmap defines the path to make rich Web content accessible, including steps already taken, remaining future steps, and a timeline. Much of the content from previous drafts of the Roadmap has been moved to the WAI-ARIA Primer.

W3C Recommendations and Working Group Notes are briefly explained in How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process, which also describes milestones in the W3C Process.

Technical document format

The WAI-ARIA documents follow the W3C format for technical specifications which includes several sections at the beginning: links to different versions, editors, copyright, abstract, and status with the link to errata and the email address for comments.

Who develops WAI-ARIA

The WAI-ARIA technical documents are developed by the Accessible Rich Internet Applications Working Group (ARIA WG), which is part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). For more information about the working group, see the ARIA WG public page.

How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process: Milestones and Opportunities to Contribute describes formal periods for public review. Opportunities for review and comment of WAI documents are announced on the WAI home page and WAI Interest Group mailing list. An email address for sending comments is included in the “Status of this Document” section.

Opportunities for contributing to WAI-ARIA and other WAI work are introduced in Participating in WAI.