Accessibility Options

Accessibility

Now with Mermaid library in much wider use, we have started to work towards more accessible features, based on the feedback from the community.

Adding accessibility means that the rich information communicated by visual diagrams can be made available to those using assistive technologies (and of course to search engines). Read more about Accessible Rich Internet Applications and the W3 standards.

Mermaid will automatically insert the aria-roledescription and, if provided in the diagram text by the diagram author, the accessible title and description.

aria-roledescription

The aria-roledescription for the SVG HTML element is set to the diagram type key. (Note this may be slightly different than the keyword used for the diagram in the diagram text.)

For example: The diagram type key for a state diagram is "stateDiagram". Here (a part of) the HTML of the SVG tag that shows the automatically inserted aria-roledscription set to "stateDiagram". (Note that some of the SVG attributes and the SVG contents are omitted for clarity.):

html

<svg
  aria-roledescription="stateDiagram"
  class="statediagram"
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
  width="100%"
  id="mermaid-1668720491568"
></svg>

Accessible Title and Description

Support for accessible titles and descriptions is available for all diagrams/chart types. We have tried to keep the same keywords and format for all diagrams so that it is easy to understand and maintain.

The accessible title and description will add <title> and <desc> elements within the SVG element and the aria-labelledby and aria-describedby attributes in the SVG tag.

Here is HTML that is generated, showing that the SVG element is labelled by the accessible title (id = chart-title-mermaid-1668725057758) and described by the accessible description (id = chart-desc-mermaid-1668725057758 ); and the accessible title element (text = "This is the accessible title") and the accessible description element (text = "This is an accessible description").

(Note that some of the SVG attributes and the SVG contents are omitted for clarity.)

html

<svg
  aria-labelledby="chart-title-mermaid-1668725057758"
  aria-describedby="chart-desc-mermaid-1668725057758"
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
  width="100%"
  id="mermaid-1668725057758"
>
  <title id="chart-title-mermaid-1668725057758">This is the accessible title</title>
  <desc id="chart-desc-mermaid-1668725057758">This is an accessible description</desc>
</svg>

Details for the syntax follow.

accessible title

The accessible title is specified with the accTitle keyword, followed by a colon (:), and the string value for the title. The string value ends at the end of the line. (It can only be a single line.)

Ex: accTitle: This is a single line title

See the accTitle and accDescr usage examples for how this can be used in a diagram and the resulting HTML generated.

accessible description

An accessible description can be 1 line long (a single line) or many lines long.

The single line accessible description is specified with the accDescr keyword, followed by a colon (:), followed by the string value for the description.

Ex: accDescr: This is a single line description.

A multiple line accessible description does not have a colon (:) after the accDescr keyword and is surrounded by curly brackets ({}).

Ex:

markdown

accDescr {
This is a multiple line accessible description.
It does not have a colon and is surrounded by curly brackets.
}

See the accTitle and accDescr usage examples for how this can be used in a diagram and the resulting HTML generated.

accTitle and accDescr Usage Examples

Flowchart with the accessible title "Big Decisions" and the single-line accessible description "Bob's Burgers process for making big decisions"

Code:

mermaid

graph LR
      accTitle: Big Decisions
      accDescr: Bob's Burgers process for making big decisions
      A[Identify Big Descision] --> B{Make Big Decision}
      B --> D[Be done]

Here is the HTML generated for the SVG element: (Note that some of the SVG attributes and the SVG contents are omitted for clarity.):

html

<svg
  aria-labelledby="chart-title-mermaid_382ee221"
  aria-describedby="chart-desc-mermaid_382ee221"
  aria-roledescription="flowchart-v2"
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
  width="100%"
  id="mermaid_382ee221"
>
  <title id="chart-title-mermaid_382ee221">Big decisions</title>
  <desc id="chart-desc-mermaid_382ee221">Bob's Burgers process for making big decisions</desc>
</svg>

Flowchart with the accessible title "Bob's Burger's Making Big Decisions" and the multiple line accessible description "The official Bob's Burgers corporate processes that are used for making very, very big decisions. This is actually a very simple flow: identify the big decision and then make the big decision."

Code:

mermaid

graph LR
      accTitle: Bob's Burger's Making Big Decisions
      accDescr {
        The official Bob's Burgers corporate processes that are used
        for making very, very big decisions.
        This is actually a very simple flow: identify the big decision and then make the big decision.
         }
      A[Identify Big Descision] --> B{Make Big Decision}
      B --> D[Be done]

Here is the HTML generated for the SVG element: (Note that some of the SVG attributes and the SVG contents are omitted for clarity.):

html

<svg
  aria-labelledby="chart-title-mermaid_382ee221"
  aria-describedby="chart-desc-mermaid_382ee221"
  aria-roledescription="flowchart-v2"
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
  width="100%"
  id="mermaid_382ee221"
>
  <title id="chart-title-mermaid_382ee221">Big decisions</title>
  <desc id="chart-desc-mermaid_382ee221">
    The official Bob's Burgers corporate processes that are used for making very, very big
    decisions. This is actually a very simple flow: identify the big decision and then make the big
    decision.
  </desc>
</svg>

Sample Code Snippets for other diagram types

Class Diagram

Code:

mermaid

classDiagram
      accTitle: My Class Diagram
      accDescr: My Class Diagram Description

      Vehicle <|-- Car

Entity Relationship Diagram

Code:

mermaid

erDiagram
      accTitle: My Entity Relationship Diagram
      accDescr: My Entity Relationship Diagram Description

    CUSTOMER ||--o{ ORDER : places
    ORDER ||--|{ LINE-ITEM : contains
    CUSTOMER }|..|{ DELIVERY-ADDRESS : uses

Gantt Chart

Code:

mermaid

gantt
      accTitle: My Gantt Chart Accessibility Title
      accDescr: My Gantt Chart Accessibility Description

    title A Gantt Diagram
    dateFormat  YYYY-MM-DD
    section Section
    A task           :a1, 2014-01-01, 30d
    Another task     :after a1  , 20d
    section Another
    Task in sec      :2014-01-12  , 12d
    another task      : 24d

Gitgraph

Code:

mermaid

gitGraph
      accTitle: My Gitgraph Accessibility Title
      accDescr: My Gitgraph Accessibility Description

     commit
     commit
     branch develop
     checkout develop
     commit
     commit
     checkout main
     merge develop
     commit
     commit

Pie Chart

Code:

mermaid

pie
      accTitle: My Pie Chart Accessibility Title
      accDescr: My Pie Chart Accessibility Description

    title Key elements in Product X
    "Calcium" : 42.96
    "Potassium" : 50.05
    "Magnesium" : 10.01
    "Iron" :  5

Requirement Diagram

Code:

mermaid

requirementDiagram
      accTitle: My Requirement Diagram
      accDescr: My Requirement Diagram Description

       requirement test_req {
  id: 1
  text: the test text.
  risk: high
  verifymethod: test
  }

  element test_entity {
  type: simulation
  }

  test_entity - satisfies -> test_req

Sequence Diagram

Code:

mermaid

sequenceDiagram
      accTitle: My Sequence Diagram
      accDescr: My Sequence Diagram Description

      Alice->>John: Hello John, how are you?
      John-->>Alice: Great!
      Alice-)John: See you later!

State Diagram

Code:

mermaid

stateDiagram
      accTitle: My State Diagram
      accDescr: My State Diagram Description

       s1 --> s2

User Journey Diagram

Code:

mermaid

journey
      accTitle: My User Journey Diagram
      accDescr: My User Journey Diagram Description

      title My working day
      section Go to work
        Make tea: 5: Me
        Go upstairs: 3: Me
        Do work: 1: Me, Cat
      section Go home
        Go downstairs: 5: Me
        Sit down: 5: Me

Accessibility Options ​

Accessibility ​

aria-roledescription ​

Accessible Title and Description ​

accessible title ​

accessible description ​

accTitle and accDescr Usage Examples ​

Code:

Code:

Sample Code Snippets for other diagram types ​

Class Diagram ​

Code:

Entity Relationship Diagram ​

Code:

Gantt Chart ​

Code:

Gitgraph ​

Code:

Pie Chart ​

Code:

Requirement Diagram ​

Code:

Sequence Diagram ​

Code:

State Diagram ​

Code:

User Journey Diagram ​

Code:

Accessibility Options

Accessibility

aria-roledescription

Accessible Title and Description

accessible title

accessible description

accTitle and accDescr Usage Examples

Sample Code Snippets for other diagram types

Class Diagram

Entity Relationship Diagram

Gantt Chart

Gitgraph

Pie Chart

Requirement Diagram

Sequence Diagram

State Diagram

User Journey Diagram