accessibilityRole

AccessibilityRole is a property used in user interface frameworks to communicate the semantic purpose of a UI element to assistive technologies, such as screen readers. By declaring a role, developers provide contextual information about what an element represents or how it behaves beyond its visual appearance. The exact set of supported roles varies by platform and framework, but commonly recognized roles include button, link, header, image, search, and adjustable controls; some implementations also support roles like checkbox, switch, or menu item. When not specified, the framework may infer a role from the element type, but explicit roles improve consistency across platforms.

Usage in practice involves assigning the accessibilityRole to an element that matches its behavior. For example, an interactive control that acts like a button can have accessibilityRole set to "button," typically alongside an accessibilityLabel that describes its action for screen readers. The role helps accessibility services announce the element correctly and can influence focus and navigation for users relying on assistive technologies. It is important that the declared role aligns with the element’s actual behavior to avoid confusion.

Considerations for developers include testing accessibility across target platforms and combining accessibilityRole with other properties such as accessibilityLabel and accessibilityHint to provide a complete, non-confusing description. In web development, similar concerns are addressed with ARIA roles, but accessibilityRole is specific to certain mobile and cross-platform frameworks.