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Add transparent generic definition and update accessibility parent and child defs #2599

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Add transparent generic definition and update accessibility parent an…
smhigley Aug 14, 2025
d76f68a
fix typo & reference error
smhigley Aug 19, 2025
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21 changes: 13 additions & 8 deletions index.html
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Expand Up @@ -1181,7 +1181,7 @@ <h3>Allowed Accessibility Child Roles</h3>
A list of roles which are allowed on an <a>accessibility child</a> (simplified as "child") of the element with this <a>role</a>. Authors MUST only add child element with allowed roles. For
example, an element with the role <rref>list</rref> can own child elements with the role <rref>listitem</rref>, but cannot own elements with the role <rref>option</rref>.
</p>
<p>To determine whether an element is the <a>child</a> of an element, <a>user agents</a> MUST ignore any intervening elements with the role <rref>generic</rref> or <rref>none</rref>.</p>
<p>To determine whether an element is the <a>child</a> of an element, <a>user agents</a> MUST ignore any intervening elements with the role <rref>generic</rref> or <rref>none</rref> which are <a>transparent</a>.</p>
<p>
Descendants which are not children of an element ancestor are not constrained by <em>allowed accessibility child roles</em>. For example, an <code>image</code> is not an allowed child of a
<code>list</code>, but it is a valid descendant if it is also a descendant of the <code>list</code>'s allowed child <code>listitem</code>.
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1247,7 +1247,7 @@ <h3>Required Accessibility Parent Role</h3>
ensure that an element with the role is an <a>accessibility child</a> of an element with the required accessibility parent role. For example, an element with role <code>listitem</code> is
only meaningful when it is a child of an element with role <code>list</code>.
</p>
<p>To determine whether an element has a parent with the required role, <a>user agents</a> MUST ignore any elements with the role <rref>generic</rref> or <rref>none</rref>.</p>
<p>To determine whether an element has a parent with the required role, <a>user agents</a> MUST ignore any elements with the role <rref>generic</rref> or <rref>none</rref> which are <a>transparent</a>.</p>
<p>Also, <a>user agents</a> SHOULD ignore the role if it occurs outside the context of a required accessibility parent role.</p>
<p class="note">An element with the appropriate <a href="#implicit_semantics">implicit WAI-ARIA semantic</a> fulfills this requirement.</p>
</section>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -16156,6 +16156,7 @@ <h2>Including Elements in the Accessibility Tree</h2>
<ul>
<li>Elements that are currently focused, even if the element or one of its ancestor elements has its <sref>aria-hidden</sref> attribute set to <code>true</code>.</li>
<li>Elements that are a valid target of an <pref>aria-activedescendant</pref> attribute.</li>
<li>Elements that have <a>live region</a> roles or attributes.</li>
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@smhigley smhigley Aug 14, 2025 •
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This addition is editorial, since the section already specifies elements that can fire an accessibility API event. I thought it should be added explicitly since it was the original example that kicked this off (and is probably the other most common attribute authors use that would trigger an a11y event)

</ul>
</li>
<li>
Expand All @@ -16174,17 +16175,21 @@ <h2>Including Elements in the Accessibility Tree</h2>
<section id="tree_relationships">
<h2>Relationships in the Accessibility Tree</h2>
<p>The following terms are used to describe relationships between <abbr title="Document Object Model">DOM</abbr> elements.</p>
<p>A <dfn data-export="" data-lt="transparent|transparent element|transparent elements">transparent element</dfn> is an element that meets one of the following criteria:</p>
<ul>
<li>It has a role of <rref>presentation</rref> or <rref>none</rref>, and does not meet one of the exceptions documented in the <a href="#conflict_resolution_presentation_none">Presentational Roles Conflict Resolution</a> section.</li>
<li>It is a <rref>generic</rref> element that does not have any attributes such as <pref>aria-live</pref> that would require it to be included in the accessibility tree, as covered in <a href="#tree_inclusion">Including Elements in the Accessibility Tree</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>
The <dfn data-export="" data-lt="accessibility child|owned child|child element|child|children|child elements">accessibility children</dfn> of a DOM element are all of the children of that
element's corresponding <a>accessible object</a> in the <a>accessibility tree</a>. In terms of the DOM, that includes the following (with exclusions listed blow):
element's corresponding <a>accessible object</a> in the <a>accessibility tree</a>. In terms of the DOM, that includes the following (with exclusions listed below):
</p>
<ul>
<li>The <abbr title="Document Object Model">DOM</abbr> children of the <a>element</a>.</li>
<li>All DOM descendants of the <a>element</a> with only elements of role <rref>generic</rref> or <rref>none</rref> intervening.</li>
<li>All DOM descendants of the <a>element</a> with only <a>transparent elements</a> intervening.</li>
<li>All DOM elements specified via an <pref>aria-owns</pref> relationship to the element.</li>
<li>
All DOM descendants of an element with role <rref>generic</rref> or <rref>none</rref> specified via <pref>aria-owns</pref> with only elements of role <rref>generic</rref> or
<rref>none</rref> intervening.
All DOM descendants of an element with role <rref>generic</rref> or <rref>none</rref> specified via <pref>aria-owns</pref> with only <a>transparent elements</a> intervening.
</li>
</ul>
<p>And excludes the following:</p>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -16228,10 +16233,10 @@ <h2>Relationships in the Accessibility Tree</h2>
</p>
<ul>
<li>The <abbr title="Document Object Model">DOM</abbr> parent of the <a>element</a>.</li>
<li>The DOM ancestor of the <a>element</a> with only elements of role <rref>generic</rref> or <rref>none</rref> intervening.</li>
<li>The DOM ancestor of the <a>element</a> with only <a>transparent elements</a> intervening.</li>
<li>A DOM element with <pref>aria-owns</pref> set to the DOM ID of the DOM element in question.</li>
<li>
A DOM element with <pref>aria-owns</pref> set to the DOM ID of an ancestor of the DOM element in question, with only elements of role <rref>generic</rref> or <rref>none</rref> intervening.
A DOM element with <pref>aria-owns</pref> set to the DOM ID of an ancestor of the DOM element in question, with only <a>transparent elements</a> intervening.
</li>
</ul>
<p>The following four examples all contain a <rref>listitem</rref> element with an accessibility parent of role <rref>list</rref>:</p>
Expand Down