invalid-active-descendant-role
The "aria-activedescendant" attribute must point at the "id" of an existing element or have an empty string.
Description
Composite elements (i.e., components that require a structure composed of different elements that make up one interface component) often require a specific parent-child structure or relationship so assistive technologies can parse and announce them correctly, and users can operate them.
In this case, an active actionable item within the detected element has a "role" that does not fit the context of its container.
Quick Fixes
The allowed roles of the actionable items in composite components often depends on their container's role.
- Go to the WAI-ARIA Specification
- In the WAI-ARIA Specification, search for the role definition of the element with the issue (e.g., tablist role).
- On the role's characteristics table under "Required Owned Elements", you'll see the allowed role for this element’s actionable descendants.
Or see this list of all the allowed actionable roles on each container type. Some "container roles" allow more than one type of role for their actionable items, but the choice is from a limited list of allowed roles.
| Container’s role | Required actionable items role/s |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| grid | columnheader, gridcell, rowheader |
| listbox | option |
| menu, menubar | menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, menuitemradio |
| radiogroup | radio |
| tablist | tab |
| tree | treeitem |
| treegrid | columnheader, gridcell, rowheader |
How Users Are Affected
Assistive technology users and, in particular, screen reader users may receive partial or incorrect information about the element and, therefore, may have difficulty understanding the content of the component and operating it.
WCAG Success criteria
This issue might cause elements to fail one or more of the following Success criteria:
1.3.1 Info and relationships (A)