role="navigation" no longer necessary on <nav> element in the_posts_navigation

[philbuchanan]

With widespread support for HTML5 elements the redundant role attribute is no longer necessary on a <nav> element and may result in screen readers announcing the element as "navigation navigation."

See line 2364 of wp-includes/link-template.php

[afercia]

This ticket was discussed during today's accessibility bug-scrub. @philbuchanan thanks for your report.

In the admin and also in the bundled themes WordPress does use to set an explicit ARIA role on HTML5 elements that already carry the same semantics e.g. <nav class="navigation" ...

This is to support old browser/assistive technologies combinations.

We're not aware of any browse/assistive technology combo that would announce "navigation" twice. Do you have any more details or specific, reproducible, cases to report?

ARIA roles usually overrides native semantic roles. If a double announcement happens, that's very likely a specific screen reader bug.

[philbuchanan]

Thanks for the feedback/info and taking the time to review.

I received the report of announcing "navigation" twice from a client who apparently received it from a customer. I wasn't able to specifically reproduce myself (I only have access to MacOS VocieOver for testing, and that doesn't announce "navigation" twice). I can try and track down the original source, but I suspect you're correct in that it was likely a bug in a specific screenreader—or a false report.

My thought regarding removing the aria-role attribute anyway was about the redundant nature of it. I use a tool (SiteImprove) for testing accessibility of the sites I develop and they surface a warning/recommend removing it. I also understand the want/need to support older browsers/assistive technologies, so I'm happy to keep for now if that is the recommendation/decision.

[afercia]

Thank you for the additional details. Yes, it is true that it's redundant and it will also trigger a HTML validation warning (not an error, just a warning). As said, it's a deliberate choice for backwards compatibility. Internet Explorer 11 and old screen readers need to be still supported, especially considering that some commercial screen readers are pretty expensive and users refrain from updating.

According to the latest WebAIM survey, 10,9% of screen reader users still use IE 11. ​https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey8/#browsers

That said, the double "navigation" announcement could happen for unrelated reasons. For example, an aria-label that contains the word "Navigation":

<nav role="navigation" aria-label="Navigation" ... >

As far as I can tell, the WordPress admin and the Bundled themes avoid this, but it may be used on some themes. In the link-template example you provided, the default values are announced as "Navigation" (role) and "Posts navigation" (default aria-label)O

[philbuchanan]

Given the necessity of supporting old browsers and technologies I'll close as wontfix.

Thanks again considering this.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Follow-up: #54054