Disabled controls explained

Supplemental requirement

Information explaining why a visible interactive element is disabled is available and, if the user can take action(s) to enable the element, those action(s) are described.

Tests

Procedure

For each visible disabled control:

Check that instructions are available that explain how to enable it.

Expected results

#1 is true.

Key Terms

accessibility support set: group of user agents and assistive technologies you test with

The AGWG is considering defining a default set of user agents and assistive technologies that they use when validating guidelines.
Accessibility support sets may vary based on language, region, or situation.
If you are not using the default accessibility set, the conformance report should indicate what set is being used.
accessibility supported: available and working in the user agents and assistive technology in the accessibility support set

The working group intended to include a default accessibility support set. See Default accessibility support set #277.
interactive element: element that responds to user input and has a distinct programmatically determinable name

Buttons, controls, input fields.

In contrast to non-interactive elements. For example, headings or paragraphs.
non-interactive element: element that does not respond to user input and does not include sub-parts

Text, an image, a video, and if they have no sub-elements: a paragraph, list item, and table cell.

If a paragraph included a link, the text either side of the link would be considered a static element, but not the paragraph as a whole.

Letters within text do not constitute a “smaller part”.
programmatically determinable: meaning of the content and all its important attributes can be determined by software functionality that is accessibility supported