Forms without an accessible name should not have a landmark role

Summary

Starting with Chrome 149, every native <form> element is exposed with a form landmark role even when it has no accessible name. Screen readers (NVDA in browse mode, VoiceOver) announce a form region on entering and leaving every such form, which is significant browse-mode navigation noise.

Per HTML-AAM, a <form> maps to the form landmark role only when it has an accessible name from aria-label, aria-labelledby, or title. Without a name it must be a generic container, not a landmark.

Live demo

The two forms below are the repro. Navigate them with a screen reader, or inspect them in chrome://accessibility.

Steps to reproduce

<!-- Case 1: no accessible name. Per HTML-AAM must NOT be a landmark. -->
<form action="#">
  <label>Search <input type="search" name="q"></label>
  <button type="submit">Go</button>
</form>

<!-- Case 2: accessible name present. SHOULD be a form landmark. -->
<form action="#" aria-label="Newsletter signup">
  <label>Email <input type="email" name="email"></label>
  <button type="submit">Subscribe</button>
</form>

Expected vs actual

Case 2 (named) is exposed as a form landmark on all platforms, which is correct.

Root cause

Regressed by CL 7257274 (bug 468317749), which made Blink always return Role::kForm for <form> and pushed the named/unnamed decision to each platform.

Fix

Use the accessible name as the sole signal on every platform, matching the shipping Linux behavior: an unnamed <form> becomes a plain section/group, a named one stays a form landmark.

// ax_platform_node_win.cc  (ComputeIA2Role)
case ax::mojom::Role::kForm:
  ia2_role = HasStringAttribute(ax::mojom::StringAttribute::kName)
                 ? IA2_ROLE_FORM
                 : IA2_ROLE_SECTION;
  break;

Links