implicit-html-roles input mappings are inconsistent with html-aria

[dbjorge]

Product

axe-core

Product Version

4.10.2

Latest Version

• I have tested the issue with the latest version of the product

Issue Description

implicit-html-roles.js today only has a partial understanding of the ARIA in HTML input element mappings.

As of ARIA in HTML 20241223 and axe-core 4.10.2, the cases look like this:

input type	ARIA in HTML role	axe-core 4.10.2 role	matches
button	button	button	✅
checkbox	checkbox	checkbox	✅
color	null	textbox (default)	❌
date	null	textbox (default)	❌
datetime-local	null	textbox (default)	❌
email (no list attr)	textbox	textbox	✅
email (with list attr)	combobox	combobox	✅
file	null	textbox (default)	❌
hidden	null	textbox (default)	❌
image	button	button	✅
month	null	textbox (default)	❌
number	spinbutton	spinbutton	✅
password	null	textbox (default)	❌
radio	radio	radio	✅
range	slider	slider	✅
reset	button	button	✅
search (no list attr)	searchbox	searchbox	✅
search (with list attr)	combobox	combobox	✅
submit	button	button	✅
tel (no list attr)	textbox	textbox	✅
tel (with list attr)	combobox	combobox	✅
text (no list attr)	textbox	textbox	✅
text (with list attr)	combobox	combobox	✅
time	null	textbox (default)	❌
url (no list attr)	textbox	textbox	✅
url (with list attr)	combobox	combobox	✅
week	null	textbox (default)	❌
missing type (no list attr)	textbox	textbox	✅
missing type (list attr)	combobox	combobox	✅
invalid type (no list attr)	textbox	textbox	✅
invalid type (list attr)	combobox	textbox (default)	❌

The logic axe-core uses vs the logic the spec uses for determining when text/tel/url/email/search should be treated as comboboxes is also slightly different; the spec says that the presence of a list attribute is enough that it should be treated as combobox-like, but axe-core demands that it not just have a list attribute but that the list attribute be a valid idrefs-style reference to a datalist element (html-elms.js is inconsistent with implicit-html-roles.js and just looks for any list attribute)

Some of these cases (eg, hidden being treated as a textbox) almost certainly need correcting. For most of these (including the list difference), we'll want to do compatibility testing and double check that the spec'd role mappings match what UAs are actually using in practice, but should update to match the spec'd mappings if possible.

As part of fixing this we'll want to audit for rules that target input elements that might be relying on the old behavior and double check that they aren't relying on the old behavior, there will probably be a few rules that will need new test cases for stuff like file inputs. We'll want to be especially careful to check on cases that look for stuff with widget role types; that determination will change for <input type="hidden">

It'd also be a good idea to also audit the set of allowed role/attributes in html-elms.js while we're here. For example, it looks like the spec is more permissive than axe-core about which roles type=image is allowed to use.

Expectation

axe-core's implicit role calculation should match html-aria spec (or should document why in comments if there are specific UA-compat cases that require divergence)

Actual

Table above is not all ✅

How to Reproduce

n/a

Additional context

n/a