v1.8.4 — Accurate responsive link-name evidence

v1.8.4 — Accurate responsive link-name evidence

This patch release makes link-name diagnostics follow the rendered accessibility tree and clearly distinguishes valid nested link text from text hidden by responsive CSS.

What changed

• Visible text inside nested elements such as <a><span>Explore this location</span></a> is accepted as the link's accessible name.
• Text hidden with display:none, visibility:hidden, visibility:collapse, or aria-hidden="true" is excluded from ordinary name-from-content calculation.
• A failed link-name result now records the hidden text, its selector, and the computed reason it was excluded instead of showing source markup without the relevant rendered state.
• Remediation now covers responsive icon-only links: keep concise text exposed to the accessibility tree or provide an equivalent aria-label or valid aria-labelledby reference.

Independent implementation checks

The regression test verifies the same fixture three ways:

• the plugin's DOM evidence collector;
• Chromium's accessibility-tree snapshot; and
• the bundled official axe-core 4.13 link-name implementation.

All three accept visible nested <span> text and reject a link whose only text is hidden with display:none.

L'Oréal validation

The affected live page was scanned at desktop, mobile, and 320-pixel reflow sizes. The Explore this location link passes at desktop. At mobile and reflow sizes, the site's .callout__fake-button element computes to display:none, Chromium exposes the parent as an unnamed link, and axe-core reports link-name. The report now includes that breakpoint-specific cause.

This result follows the W3C Accessible Name and Description Computation 1.2 hidden-node rules and WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 4.1.2. The product remains an evidence-backed pre-audit; automated results do not establish complete WCAG conformance.