bug(MAT-ICON): aria-disabled="false" is not set anymore (version >= 17.1.0)

[B34v0n]

Is this a regression?

• Yes, this behavior used to work in the previous version

The previous version in which this bug was not present was

17.0.6

Description

For active a-tags with mat-icon-buttons there was the label aria-disabled="false" set.
It won't be set anymore for every Version >= 17.1.0.

Reproduction

stackblitz won't run my code, I don't know why. It cannot install the dependencies.
That's why I created a github repo: https://github.com/B34v0n/mat-icon-aria/branches .
On the main branch, there is a working example with 17.0.6 and on the branch update-to-17.3.1 there is exactly the same, but with updated dependecies.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Add a mat-icon-button like so: <a mat-icon-button><mat-icon>save</mat-icon></a>
2. Inspect in Console, there is no aria-disabled="false" set in the a-tag (version >= 17.1.0)
3. In 17.0.6 it is still set

Expected Behavior

The attribute aria-disabled="false" should be set for active a-Tags.

Actual Behavior

The attribute aria-disabled="false" is not set for active a-Tags.

Environment

• Angular: 17.3.1
• CDK/Material: 17.3.1
• Browser(s): Chrome
• Operating System (e.g. Windows, macOS, Ubuntu): Windows

[wagnermaciel]

This seems like it could be related to #28242

[zarend]

Hello folks,

From Icon accessibility instructions,

...mat-icon is marked as aria-hidden="true" by default, but this can be overridden by adding aria-hidden="false" to the element.

Does adding aria-hidden="false" resolve the issue for you?

Best Regards,

Zach

[B34v0n]

Hi @zarend, It has nothing to do with hidden, it's about disabled. So sadly, that does not resolve the issue.

[B34v0n]

Hi @wagnermaciel, yes, it seems like it absolutely has to do something with your mentioned issue.

I found this part: https://github.com/angular/components/pull/28242/files#diff-acd842e8c1b9a16bb01e58101293d68888bd462f26515cbd527a0b43579aa61cL178, where the aria-disabled is set to the disabled attribute to String (so 'true' or 'false').

Now it's set to _getDisabledAttribute(), which returns null or true.
Can you say, if that is on purpose, that the aria-disabled is set like that and it can not be set to false anymore? or was that kind of a mistake?

I myself think, it is important to set aria-disabled='false' because of accessibility.

[zarend]

Hello @B34v0n ,

Thank you for clarifying. I'm not sure I understand the problem statement. I don't think that MatIcon is intended to be interactive. Since they're not interactive, I don't see why aria-disabled needs to be in play here.

Best Regards,

Zach