ARIA Usage Tutorial

1. Introduction

In this tutorial, we'll explore how ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes can be used in HTML to improve the accessibility of your web applications. ARIA is especially useful for dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with AJAX, HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies.

Goals

• Understand what ARIA is and why it is important.
• Learn how to use different ARIA roles, states, and properties.
• Get hands-on experience through coding examples and exercises.

Prerequisites

• Basic understanding of HTML
• Familiarity with JavaScript is beneficial but not required

2. Step-by-Step Guide

ARIA provides a way to make web content and web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It does this by allowing you to specify what exactly is being displayed on your web page.

ARIA Roles

ARIA roles provide information about what an element is or does. For example, the role="navigation" tells screen readers that the element is meant for navigation.

<nav role="navigation">
  <!-- Links for navigation -->
</nav>

ARIA States and Properties

ARIA states and properties provide extra information about elements. For example, aria-hidden="true" tells screen readers to skip over the content.

<div aria-hidden="true">
  <!-- Content not meant for screen readers -->
</div>

Best Practices

• Don't change native semantics unless you really have to.
• All interactive ARIA controls must be usable with the keyboard.
• Don't use role="presentation" or aria-hidden="true" on a focusable element.
• All form inputs with an ARIA role must have an accessible name.

3. Code Examples

Example 1: Using aria-labelledby

<div id="uniqueId1">Name:</div>
<input aria-labelledby="uniqueId1" type="text" />

In the above example, the input field is labeled by the 'Name:' div. The text within the div acts as the label for the input field.

Example 2: Using aria-hidden

<div aria-hidden="true">
  <!-- This content will be ignored by screen readers -->
</div>

In this example, the content within the div will be ignored by screen readers because of the aria-hidden="true" attribute.

4. Summary

Today, we learned about ARIA and its importance in making web applications more accessible. We learned about different ARIA roles, states, and properties, and looked at code examples illustrating these concepts.

Next Steps

Consider exploring more complex ARIA roles and properties. You can also look into other accessibility standards and practices, such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).

Additional Resources

• ARIA in HTML
• ARIA Practices

5. Practice Exercises

Exercise 1:

Create a navigation bar using ARIA roles.

Exercise 2:

Create a form with at least two input fields, using ARIA roles and properties to enhance accessibility.

Exercise 3:

Create a webpage that uses ARIA roles, states, and properties in multiple instances. Make sure to use aria-hidden, aria-labelledby, and role.

For each of these exercises, test your page with a screen reader tool to ensure it behaves as expected.

Remember, practice is key when mastering web development skills. Keep practicing and exploring more advanced ARIA roles and properties. Good luck!