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Just use a button

(gomakethings.com)
284 points moebrowne | 2 comments | 31 Oct 25 16:59 UTC | HN request time: 0.447s | source
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827a ◴[31 Oct 25 17:57 UTC] No.45774815[source]▶
> This element does not announce itself as an interactive element to screen reader users.

Is this actually true nowadays? Given that advice like this is often parrotted by people who don't actually use screen-reading software, I sometimes wonder if this is a situation where we've just been saying this and repeating this advice; meanwhile, screen readers have obviously become sophisticated enough to recognize that a div with an onclick handler on it is probably, you know, clickable and interactive.

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1. mnhnthrow34 ◴[31 Oct 25 18:00 UTC] No.45774839[source]▶
Have you tested this? Often click handlers are on some non-interactive ancestor element, it is not a good heuristic for something being interactive itself or what name it should have. Sometimes the listener is on the body element and we just parse out the triggering element and do something.
replies(1): >>45776400 #
2. 827a ◴[31 Oct 25 20:33 UTC] No.45776400[source]▶
No I haven't tested it, that's what I'm asking.

This piece of advice, to me, just feels like a piece of advice constantly repeated by a bunch of people, none of whom actually use the software for which the piece of advice is meant to benefit. That scares me; like we've all lost touch with the ground truth on this one; I'd love to re-sync with it, that's what I'm trying to do, I just don't have the first clue how to do it.