2056342 - [a11y] Inaccessible tabbed interface

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: New Tab Page, defect)

Description

[Claire Joeckel]

Attachment: Screenshot 2026-07-20 114810.png

Impacted Section/Element

HNT

Steps to Reproduce

On HNT, open DevTools. Inspect the "Results", "Now", and "Upcoming" buttons in the "Sports" widget.

Expected Behavior

The tabbed interface has the correct keyboard interactions, ARIA attributes, and code structures. When focus moves into the tab list, focus is set on the active tab (the one whose panel is visible). When a tab has the focus, hitting the Tab key moves focus to its associated panel. The Tab key does not navigate among the tabs. When focus is on a tab in an automatic tabbed interface, when the tab receives the focus, the tab becomes active, and the associated panel is exposed immediately. Each panel has role="tabpanel". If the tab list has no visible label, the tab list element is labeled with aria-label.

Actual Behavior

The tabbed interface has incorrect keyboard interactions, ARIA attributes, and code structures.

User Impact

When tabbed interfaces do not have the correct keyboard interactions, ARIA attributes, and code structures, this confuses users and makes it difficult for them to access the content.

WCAG 2.2 References

WCAG 2.1.1 (Keyboard - Level A), WCAG 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value - Level A)

Recommendations

Remodel the tabbed interface after the WAI-ARIA Automatic Tabbed Interface. When focus moves into the tab list, focus must be set on the active tab (the one whose panel is visible). When a tab has the focus, hitting the Tab key must move focus to its associated panel. The Tab key must not navigate among the tabs. When focus is on a tab in an automatic tabbed interface, when the tab receives the focus, the tab must become active, and the associated panel must be exposed, immediately. Each panel needs role="tabpanel". If the tab list has no visible label, the tab list element needs to be labeled with aria-label.

Testing Environment

Any

Assistive Technology Used

Any

Further Reference

https://www.w3.org/WAI/ARIA/apg/patterns/tabs/examples/tabs-automatic/

Severity

3-Moderate

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

The severity field is not set for this bug.
:thecount, could you have a look please?

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Comment 2

[Gabriel H [:gharp, :gabriel]]

For sports widget; won't fix.