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Copilot AI commented Nov 5, 2025

Implements WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility improvements for screen readers and dynamic content announcements.

Changes

Screen Reader Navigation

  • Skip link to main content with visible-on-focus styling
  • ARIA landmarks: <main>, <nav role="navigation">, role="search"
  • Semantic HTML: <header>, <article>, <section> replacing generic divs
  • Proper heading hierarchy (h1 for page titles, h2 for sections)
  • Descriptive aria-label attributes on all interactive elements

Form & Input Accessibility

  • Explicit labels with aria-required on required fields
  • aria-describedby for contextual field help
  • Screen reader text for icon-only actions using .sr-only
  • Decorative icons marked aria-hidden="true"

Dynamic Content Handling

  • aria-live="polite" for status updates (search results, product counts)
  • aria-live="assertive" for errors and alerts
  • Modal focus management with auto-focus on open/close
  • Live region announcements for AJAX form submissions

Data Table Semantics

  • scope="col" and scope="row" attributes on headers
  • Hidden <caption> elements for table context
  • Proper <th> usage for row/column headers

Example

Before:

<div class="jumbotron">
    <h1>Hello, to NodeVulnerable!</h1>
</div>
<div id="grid">
    <div class="item">
        <img src="/images/product.jpg" alt="">
    </div>
</div>

After:

<header class="jumbotron">
    <h1>Welcome to NodeVulnerable!</h1>
</header>
<section id="grid" aria-label="Product listing">
    <article class="item">
        <img src="/images/product.jpg" alt="Product name product image">
    </article>
</section>

Security

Fixed XSS vulnerabilities in new ARIA attributes by using HTML-escaped output (<%= vs <%-) for user-controlled content in alt text and aria-labels.

Login page with skip link and accessible form labels

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Update the UI for accessibility</issue_title>
<issue_description>Update the UI for accessibility

  • Screen reader UX improvements
  • Live region / dynamic content handling</issue_description>

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Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Update UI for accessibility with screen reader improvements Add ARIA landmarks, live regions, and semantic HTML for screen reader accessibility Nov 5, 2025
Copilot AI requested a review from nebuk89 November 5, 2025 09:49
Copilot finished work on behalf of nebuk89 November 5, 2025 09:49
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Update the UI for accessibility

2 participants