Widget

A discrete user interface object that users can interact with, such as a dropdown menu, slider, tab panel, date picker, modal dialog, or autocomplete field. The W3C defines a widget as a "discrete user interface object with which the user can interact." In web accessibility, widgets present challenges because they typically generate dynamic updates to the Document Object Model (DOM) that require visual perception to notice. Without WAI-ARIA semantic markup (roles, states, and properties), assistive technologies like screen readers cannot identify widget types, their current states, or the meaning of dynamic changes, making them effectively inaccessible to users with disabilities.