2008158 - Decorative image not programmatically identified (Customize button)

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: New Tab Page, enhancement)

Description

[John Northup]

Steps to Reproduce

Open Dev Tools. Inspect the image within the Customize button.

Expected Behavior

Image marked as decorative by alt="".

Actual Behavior

Image withheld from the accessibility tree by role="presentation".

User Impact

Although the image is removed from the accessibility tree, the role attribute relies on AT behavior rather than author-provided alt information. Using alt="" is the most robust method for identifying decorative images and is consistent with the First Rule of ARIA.

WCAG 2.2 References

Best practice only.

Recommendations

Apply alt="" and remove the role attribute.

Testing Environment

Any

Assistive Technology Used

Any

Code Pointers

<img role="presentation" src="chrome://global/skin/icons/edit-outline.svg">

Further Reference

• WebAIM: Alternative Text: Decorative Images
• W3C: First Rule of ARIA Use

Comment 1

[John Northup]

Attachment: Customize button with pencil icon

Comment 2

[Dana Lucaci, Desktop QA]

Reproduced with Firefox 148.0a1 (2025-12-31) on macOS 15 and Windows 10.
Marking this issue as new for engineering input.
Thank you!

Comment 3

[❌ Anna Yeddi [:ayeddi] ❌ On leave until 2027-01-04]

Assigning the Severity value to align with the Accessibility severity, per discussions with :thecount and :marco

Comment 4

[Sameeksha]

Hi, I would like to work on this bug. I'm familiar with this component from working on Bug 2008197. Thanks!

Comment 5

[Sameeksha]

Attachment: Bug 2008158 - Replace role="presentation" with alt="" for decorative customize icon. r=thecount

Comment 6

[Scott [:thecount] Downe]

Looking at this.

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/ec50f9451f63
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/8dd726a60200
Replace role="presentation" with alt="" for decorative customize icon. r=thecount

Comment 8

[Norisz Fay [:noriszfay]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/8dd726a60200

Comment 9

[Sameeksha]

Thank you Scott for reviewing and landing the patch!