When should you use ARIA?

Answer

Use ARIA only when native HTML cannot express the required semantics or state, and follow the behavior that the chosen ARIA role implies. ARIA can improve a custom widget, but it cannot repair incorrect interaction or replace a native element.

Context

Accessible interfaces use semantic HTML, predictable keyboard behavior, visible focus, and clear feedback. Build those requirements into the component contract from the start.

Example

<button type="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="filters">
  Show filters
</button>
<section id="filters" hidden>…</section>

The native button supplies keyboard behavior; aria-expanded communicates the visible state.

Practical considerations

1. Choose the approach from the requirement and constraints, not from habit.
2. Include validation, error handling, and cleanup where the boundary requires them.
3. Verify the observable result with focused tests or measurement.

Follow-up prompts

• What failure mode would you expect if this were implemented incorrectly?
• How would you test this behaviour?
• What changes when the feature must scale to a larger application or team?

In practice

For this hard-level topic, make assumptions explicit, choose the smallest safe implementation, and verify the behavior at the relevant boundary.