CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head><title>inert_attribute (html) | Accessibility Support</title><meta charset="utf-8"><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"><link rel="canonical" href="https://a11ysupport.io/tech/html/inert_attribute"><link rel="stylesheet" href="/stylesheets/style.css"><script src="/js/vendor/details-polyfill.js"></script><script src="/js/vendor/formdata.min.js"></script><script src="/js/head.js"></script></head><body><header role="banner"><a class="skip-nav" href="#main" id="skip-nav">Skip to main content</a><div class="logo-area"><div class="site-title"><a href="/">Accessibility Support</a></div><span>Will your code work with assistive technologies?</span></div><nav role="navigation"><ul><li><a href="/tests">All Tests</a></li><li><a href="/faq">FAQ</a></li><li><a href="/contribute">Contribute</a></li><li><a href="/learn">Learn</a></li><li><a href="/updates">Recent updates</a></li></ul></nav></header><main role="main" id="main" tabindex="-1"><div class="beta-warning"><p><strong>Important</strong>: This website does not attempt to establish a standard for how assistive technologies must behave. <a href="/faq">Read the FAQ for more information</a>. Additionally, this is a work in progress. <a href="https://github.com/accessibilitysupported/accessibilitysupported/issues/new">Please submit feedback or suggestions</a>.</p></div><div><div class="content"><h1>inert attribute (html)</h1><div class="current-support-container ye"><p>Screen Reader support level: supported</p></div><div class="current-support-container ye"><p>Voice Control support level: supported</p></div><div class="current-support-container ye"><p>Keyboard support level: supported</p></div><h2>On this page</h2><ul class="link-list"><li><a href="#description">About this feature</a></li><li><a href="#age-of-results">Age of results</a></li><li><a href="#expectations">Expectations</a><ul><li><a href="#support-table-0">remove functionality of interactive content for assistive technologies (navigation and operation)</a></li><li><a href="#support-table-1">hide static content from assistive technologies</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#related-tests">Related tests</a></li><li><a href="#feedback">Is something not right?</a></li></ul><h2 id="description">About this feature</h2><p></p><h2 id="age-of-results">Age of results</h2><p>Results across all tests for this feature range from 2 years ago to 2 years ago. Detailed dates and version information can be found in <a href="#related-tests">associated tests</a>.</p><h2 id="expectations">Expectations</h2><p><a href="/faq#what-are-expectations%3F">What are expectations?</a></p><h3 id="support-table-by-assertion-and-at-sr">Screen Reader support by expectation</h3><div class="responsive-table" tabindex="0"><table class="support-summary-table" aria-labelledby="support-table-by-assertion-and-at-sr"><col><colgroup span="3"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="3"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><tr><th rowspan="2">Expectation</th><th colspan="3" scope="colgroup">JAWS</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Narrator</th><th colspan="3" scope="colgroup">NVDA</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Orca</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">TalkBack</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">VoiceOver (iOS)</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">VoiceOver (macOS)</th></tr><tr><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Firefox</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Firefox</th><th scope="col">Firefox</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Safari</th><th scope="col">Safari</th></tr><tr><th><a href="#support-table-0">MUST remove functionality of interactive content for assistive technologies (navigation and operation)</a></th><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td></tr><tr><th><a href="#support-table-1">MUST hide static content from assistive technologies</a></th><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td></tr></table></div><h3 id="support-table-by-assertion-and-at-vc">Voice Control support by expectation</h3><div class="responsive-table" tabindex="0"><table class="support-summary-table" aria-labelledby="support-table-by-assertion-and-at-vc"><col><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="2"></colgroup><colgroup span="2"></colgroup><tr><th rowspan="2">Expectation</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Dragon Naturally Speaking</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Voice Access (Android)</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Voice Control (iOS)</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Voice Control (MacOS)</th><th colspan="2" scope="colgroup">Windows Speech Recognition</th><th colspan="2" scope="colgroup">Windows Voice Access</th></tr><tr><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Safari</th><th scope="col">Safari</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th></tr><tr><th><a href="#support-table-0">MUST remove functionality of interactive content for assistive technologies (navigation and operation)</a></th><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td></tr></table></div><h3 id="support-table-by-assertion-and-at-kb">Keyboard support by expectation</h3><div class="responsive-table" tabindex="0"><table class="support-summary-table" aria-labelledby="support-table-by-assertion-and-at-kb"><col><colgroup span="3"></colgroup><colgroup span="2"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><tr><th rowspan="2">Expectation</th><th colspan="3" scope="colgroup">Windows Keyboard</th><th colspan="2" scope="colgroup">Mac Keyboard</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">iOS Keyboard</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Android Keyboard</th></tr><tr><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Firefox</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Safari</th><th scope="col">Safari</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th></tr><tr><th><a href="#support-table-0">MUST remove functionality of interactive content for assistive technologies (navigation and operation)</a></th><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td><td class="support-case ye">supported</td></tr></table></div><div class="assertion-container"><h3 id="support-table-0">Expectation: remove functionality of interactive content for assistive technologies (navigation and operation)</h3><h4>Rationale:</h4><p>The inert attribute will prevent all click events for mouse users and hide content from assistive technologies, so all functionality should be removed for assistive technologies. This includes removing the inert content from the tab order, and preventing any interactions with inert content.</p><h4>Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:</h4><ul><li>Screen Readers: MUST</li><li>Voice Control: MUST</li></ul><h4>Examples:</h4><ul><li>For keyboard: inert content will be removed from the tab order and it is not possible to trigger any functionality.</li><li>For screen readers: inert content will be removed from the tab order and it is not possible to trigger any functionality.</li><li>For voice control: it is not possible to trigger any inert functionality.</li></ul><div class="responsive-table" tabindex="0"><table class="support-summary-table"><caption>Screen Reader support for 'MUST remove functionality of interactive content for assistive technologies (navigation and operation)'</caption><col><colgroup span="3"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="3"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><tr><th rowspan="2">Test</th><th colspan="3" scope="colgroup">JAWS</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Narrator</th><th colspan="3" scope="colgroup">NVDA</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Orca</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">TalkBack</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">VoiceOver (iOS)</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">VoiceOver (macOS)</th></tr><tr><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Firefox</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Firefox</th><th scope="col">Firefox</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Safari</th><th scope="col">Safari</th></tr><tr><th scope="row"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert">HTML inert attribute test</a></th><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--jaws-chrome">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--jaws-edge">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--jaws-firefox">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--narrator-edge">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--nvda-chrome">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--nvda-edge">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--nvda-firefox">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--orca-firefox">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--talkback-and_chr">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--vo_ios-ios_saf">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--vo_macos-safari">supported</a></td></tr></table></div><div class="responsive-table" tabindex="0"><table class="support-summary-table"><caption>Voice Control support for 'MUST remove functionality of interactive content for assistive technologies (navigation and operation)'</caption><col><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="2"></colgroup><colgroup span="2"></colgroup><tr><th rowspan="2">Test</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Dragon Naturally Speaking</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Voice Access (Android)</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Voice Control (iOS)</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Voice Control (MacOS)</th><th colspan="2" scope="colgroup">Windows Speech Recognition</th><th colspan="2" scope="colgroup">Windows Voice Access</th></tr><tr><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Safari</th><th scope="col">Safari</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th></tr><tr><th scope="row"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert">HTML inert attribute test</a></th><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--dragon_win-chrome">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--va_and-and_chr">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--vc_ios-ios_saf">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--vc_macos-safari">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--wsr-edge">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--wsr-chrome">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--va_windows-edge">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-disable_functionality--va_windows-chrome">supported</a></td></tr></table></div></div><div class="assertion-container"><h3 id="support-table-1">Expectation: hide static content from assistive technologies</h3><h4>Rationale:</h4><p>Per the HTML specification, the inert attribute is expected to hide all contained content from assistive technologies.</p><h4>Strength of this expectation for different types of assistive technologies:</h4><ul><li>Screen Readers: MUST</li><li>Voice Control: NA</li></ul><h4>Examples:</h4><ul><li>It is not possible to read anything contained within an element that has the inert attribute.</li></ul><div class="responsive-table" tabindex="0"><table class="support-summary-table"><caption>Screen Reader support for 'MUST hide static content from assistive technologies'</caption><col><colgroup span="3"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="3"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><colgroup span="1"></colgroup><tr><th rowspan="2">Test</th><th colspan="3" scope="colgroup">JAWS</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Narrator</th><th colspan="3" scope="colgroup">NVDA</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">Orca</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">TalkBack</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">VoiceOver (iOS)</th><th colspan="1" scope="colgroup">VoiceOver (macOS)</th></tr><tr><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Firefox</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Edge</th><th scope="col">Firefox</th><th scope="col">Firefox</th><th scope="col">Chrome</th><th scope="col">Safari</th><th scope="col">Safari</th></tr><tr><th scope="row"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert">HTML inert attribute test</a></th><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-remove_from_reading_order--jaws-chrome">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-remove_from_reading_order--jaws-edge">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-remove_from_reading_order--jaws-firefox">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-remove_from_reading_order--narrator-edge">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-remove_from_reading_order--nvda-chrome">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-remove_from_reading_order--nvda-edge">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-remove_from_reading_order--nvda-firefox">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-remove_from_reading_order--orca-firefox">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-remove_from_reading_order--talkback-and_chr">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-remove_from_reading_order--vo_ios-ios_saf">supported</a></td><td class="support-case ye"><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert#assertion-html-inert_attribute-remove_from_reading_order--vo_macos-safari">supported</a></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div class="sidebar"><h2 id="related-tests">Tests</h2><table aria-labelledby="related-tests"><tr><th>Test</th><th>Last update</th></tr><tr><td><a href="/tests/tech__html__inert">HTML inert attribute test</a></td><td>2023-07-08</td></tr></table><h2 id="feedback">Is something not right?</h2><p>We use our <a href="https://github.com/accessibilitysupported/accessibilitysupported">GitHub repository</a> to manage our issue tracking. Please provide as much information as you can for issues, and please leave the id in the issue title intact.</p><a href="https://github.com/accessibilitysupported/accessibilitysupported/issues/new?title=html/inert_attribute&labels=tech%20feature">Create an issue for this feature</a><h2 id="related-features">References</h2><ul><li><a href="https://html.spec.whatwg.org/#the-inert-attribute">WHATWG HTML spec for the inert attribute</a></li></ul></div></div></main><footer role="contentinfo"><p>This work was originally created by Michael Fairchild. This is a community-driven and open source project. Text and data is available under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</p><p><a href="https://github.com/accessibilitysupported/accessibilitysupported/">Find us on GitHub</a></p><script>// only show the focus outline for skip nav if a keyboard event triggered it. var skipnav = document.querySelector('#skip-nav'); var main = document.querySelector('main'); skipnav.addEventListener('click', function () { main.classList.add('show-focus-outline'); main.focus(); }); main.addEventListener('blur', function () { main.classList.remove('show-focus-outline'); });</script></footer></body></html>