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Browser & Accessibility APIs

Browser responsibility#

Interactive demo

Accessibility stack

Accessibility stack

Authors define structure, meaning, and behavior in markup and script.

Native elements already carry roles and interaction contracts.

<button type="button">Save</button>

A conceptual model—not a claim that every browser implements an identical pipeline.

AT generally does not consume arbitrary pixels as the primary interface model. It receives structured accessibility information.

Platform APIs#

Flow

Conceptual path

  1. Web semantics (HTML / ARIA)
  2. Browser accessibility tree
  3. OS accessibility API
  4. Assistive technology
  5. User

API names differ by platform (for example UI Automation, AXAPI, AT-SPI).

Engineer takeaway

  1. Correct HTML/ARIA is how you feed the API chain
  2. Broken names/roles/states fail before any screen reader setting
  3. Platform details vary; the authoring contract stays the same