Accessible description

An accessible description is the description of a user interface element that provides additional information to help users of assistive technology understand the UI element and its context. It’s associated with an HTML or SVG element and gives users additional context about its purpose beyond what is provided by the element’s accessible name. This is particularly important for users who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers. An element’s accessible description is part of the accessibility tree.

For example, the accessible name of a <table> is provided by its first <caption>. In the case of complex data tables, a sentence or two describing the table can provide a description. This can be a paragraph right before or after the table, both visually and in source code order. If elsewhere in source order, or to make the associate explicit, the aria-describedby attribute can be used to associate the table with its description.