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ARIA & keyboard

Label points to a missing element

WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)

WCAG 2.2
1.3.1 Info and Relationships
Level
A
Default severity
Needs review
Available in
Free

Why it matters

aria-labelledby, aria-describedby and <label for> point at other elements by ID. If the ID does not exist, the label or description silently disappears.

Who it affects: Screen reader and keyboard users, who depend on ARIA and focus order being correct to understand and operate the page.

What Lumtera flags

ARIA and label references to IDs that are not in the content.

Check ID aria-broken-reference — use it to filter the content report or with wp lumtera issues --rule.

How to fix it in WordPress

Make sure the referenced ID exists in the content and is spelled exactly the same (IDs are case-sensitive). This often breaks when a block is copied and its IDs are regenerated.

Example

Flagged
<input aria-describedby="pwd-hint" type="password">
Fixed
<input aria-describedby="pwd-hint" type="password">
<p id="pwd-hint">At least 12 characters.</p>

How to check your fix

  1. Update the post. The issue disappears from the Accessibility sidebar on the next check, and from the site report on the next scan.
  2. Press Tab from the top of the page. Focus should move in reading order and never land on something invisible or silent.

Find this issue across your whole site

Lumtera runs this check in the block editor sidebar as you write, in the Elementor panel, in Review mode on the live page, and across the whole site in the content report and with wp lumtera scan. You can change its severity or turn it off in Accessibility → Settings.

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