Bootstrap Aria-Hidden - Javascript

Introduction

Bootstrap is a popular front-end web framework that helps developers build responsive, mobile-first websites quickly and easily. Bootstrap includes a set of built-in accessibility features that can help make websites more accessible to people with disabilities, including the ability to use ARIA attributes like "aria-hidden" to ensure that content is properly announced by screen readers. In this article, we will take a closer look at Bootstrap's "aria-hidden" attribute and how it can be used with Javascript.

What is aria-hidden?

ARIA, or Accessible Rich Internet Applications, is a set of attributes that can be added to HTML elements to make them more accessible to people with disabilities. The "aria-hidden" attribute is one of these attributes, and it indicates that an element should be hidden from screen readers and other assistive technology.

When an element has the "aria-hidden" attribute set to "true", it is still visible on the screen, but screen readers will not announce its presence to visually impaired users. This can be useful in cases where an element is purely decorative or redundant, and its presence would only serve to confuse users.

How can aria-hidden be used with Javascript?

Javascript can be used with the "aria-hidden" attribute to dynamically toggle the visibility of certain elements on a web page. For example, consider a button that toggles the visibility of a dropdown menu:

const dropdownButton = document.querySelector('#dropdown-button');
const dropdownMenu = document.querySelector('#dropdown-menu');

dropdownButton.addEventListener('click', function() {
    if (dropdownMenu.getAttribute('aria-hidden') === 'true') {
        dropdownMenu.setAttribute('aria-hidden', 'false');
    } else {
        dropdownMenu.setAttribute('aria-hidden', 'true');
    }
});

In this example, we use JavaScript to listen for a click event on the dropdown button. When the button is clicked, we check the current value of the "aria-hidden" attribute on the dropdown menu element. If the value is "true", we set it to "false", which will make the menu visible to screen readers. If the value is already "false", we set it to "true", which will hide the menu from screen readers.

Conclusion

Using the "aria-hidden" attribute with Javascript can be a powerful way to make web pages more accessible to visually impaired users. By using Javascript to dynamically toggle the visibility of certain elements, developers can ensure that users with disabilities are able to navigate and interact with web content more easily.