angular/components

Demo bug: expandable row table example is not keyboard or screen reader accessible

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#15020 opened on Jan 30, 2019

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AccessibilityP4area: material/tabledocshelp wanted

Description

What is the expected behavior?

  1. It must be possible to expand and collapse table rows in the example by using only a keyboard
  2. Roles, states, and properties must be present so that users of screen reader software are aware that the rows can expand and collapse

What is the current behavior?

  1. It is not possible to expand and collapse table rows in the example by using only a keyboard
  2. Roles, states, and properties are not provided to convey the functionality to users of screen reader software

What are the steps to reproduce?

  1. Using either of the following screen readers
    • NVDA 2018.4.1 + Firefox 64
    • VoiceOver for IOS (12.1.3) + Safari
  2. Open the table example page
  3. Use the screen reader to navigate to a table cell in the 'Table with expandable rows' example
  4. Observe that the screen reader does not convey any semantics about the current expanded state, or that it is possible to interact with the row to expand the information
  5. Press the 'enter' key or space bar and obverse that the row does not expand or collapse

Which versions of Angular, Material, OS, TypeScript, browsers are affected?

Is there anything else we should know?

Since rows and cells already have roles, it would be best to add a separate control to expand/collapse each row.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
frontendaccessibility
Issue type
accessibility
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Understanding of Angular Material componentsKnowledge of ARIA roles and propertiesFamiliarity with keyboard event handling
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60
Research direction
Investigate the expandable row table example in the Angular Material repository, likely in the CDK or material/table directory. The fix involves adding a separate interactive control (e.g., a button) within each row that handles keyboard events (Enter/Space) for expand/collapse, and applying appropriate ARIA attributes such as aria expanded and aria controls. Reference the suggestion in the issue to avoid breaking existing row roles.