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Pulseaccessibility

ARIA Role Values Are Valid

What This Audit Checks

This audit verifies that every role attribute uses a valid value from the WAI-ARIA specification. Typos, made-up roles, and abstract roles (like widget or roletype) all trigger this audit.

Why It Matters

An invalid role is ignored by assistive technologies entirely. The element falls back to its implicit role or none at all, which means the semantics you intended are never communicated to screen reader users.

How to Fix It

  • Fix typos. Common mistakes include role="buton" instead of role="button" or role="naviagtion" instead of role="navigation".
  • Don't use abstract roles. Roles like widget, landmark, and roletype are base types in the spec and cannot be used directly in markup.
  • Use only documented roles from the WAI-ARIA role list.
<!-- Bad: typo in role value -->
<nav role="naviagtion">...</nav>

<!-- Good: correct role value -->
<nav role="navigation">...</nav>

<!-- Better: use native HTML and skip the role entirely -->
<nav>...</nav>

How Pulse Tracks This

Pulse flags this audit in your Lighthouse accessibility score. When the audit fails, Pulse shows which elements triggered it so you can fix them directly.

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