ACT Rule in6db8 · deprecated
ARIA required ID references exist
This checked that ARIA attributes pointing at other elements by id pointed at ids that existed. In practice it was written for aria-controls, the only reference list WAI-ARIA has ever required.
The rule has been withdrawn. W3C says it is no longer maintained and should not be used.
Why W3C withdrew this rule
W3C withdrew this one because the aria-controls attribute is no longer required by the combobox and scrollbar roles, which were the only places WAI-ARIA ever demanded it.
There is nothing left to do about this rule. A dangling id reference is still worth catching in your own build, because it usually means a component was half wired up, but no published rule asks for it any more.
Where W3C files this rule
W3C's index lists this rule under the criteria below, which is how most readers arrive here. The rule's own page names none of them as a conformance requirement, so treat the grouping as a signpost rather than as a verdict.
- 1.3.1 Info and Relationships Level A
- 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value Level A
The ARIA requirement this rule answers to
This rule maps to ARIA 1.2, section 6.2.4 Value. WAI-ARIA is a separate specification with its own author requirements, so a result here is measured against ARIA rather than against WCAG. A law that names WCAG does not name this.
The normative rule text lives at W3C
What the rule applies to, and exactly what it expects, is published by W3C and can change. We link to it rather than restate it, so nothing here can quietly fall out of date against the source. Read rule in6db8 at W3C.
ARIA attributes have rules that must be followed
ARIA lets you tell assistive technology what something is. That only works if what you tell it is true and complete. A role often carries obligations. Some need particular states set, some need a specific parent, some need particular children.
A tab has to live in a tablist. A checkbox has to say whether it is checked. Leave those out and you have described something that does not exist. That is worse than describing nothing.
Half-finished ARIA is the pattern. Someone adds role="tablist" to get the semantics and stops there. The tabs never announce their state and the widget becomes unusable by voice.
Fixes that satisfy it
If this rule fails on your site, these are the techniques that put it right.
Other rules W3C files under the same criteria
Each of these asks a different question about the same part of the standard. Passing all of them is still not the same as satisfying the criterion.
- Image button has non-empty accessible name A tool can check this
- Link has non-empty accessible name A tool can check this
- ARIA attribute is defined in WAI-ARIA A tool can check this
- ARIA state or property has valid value A tool can check this
- Element with role attribute has required states and properties A tool can check this
- Form field has non-empty accessible name A tool can check this
All 87 ACT rules are grouped by the criteria they test, and 24 of them decide nothing about WCAG on their own. Run a free scan to see which of these your own pages trip.