Accessible Names

Defining accessible names

What is an accessible name? by The Paciello Group outlines what name is exposed in the Accessibility Tree (the page outline for accessibility purposes, that users don’t see directly) when creating something on the page.

This can be important because if you name two things the same name (like a header or a section or an icon) the user may be left in a confusing position trying to figure out which thing you’re talking about.

Because some names are visible and others are hidden in aria-labels or alt text, understanding which content you write is considered the “name” is critical to not repeating content or confusing your user.

Writing accessible names

Sara Soueidan’s article Accessible Text Labels for All covers:

• How the rotor works and why screen reader users are using it.
• What it’s like to navigate an e-commerce page with the rotor.
• What it’s like to navigate the same page with voice recognition as the primary input source.
• Changes that could be made to the example page to make it better.
• The importance of visual labels.