- Success Criterion 1.3.2
- Conformance level A
Empty Elements Making Screen Readers Announce ‘Blank’ Repeatedly
1.3.2 — Meaningful Sequence
Scenario
Setting
A webinar platform's registration form
What’s wrong
Empty elements or stray whitespace in the code are announced as 'blank' — often several times in a row — adding meaningless stops between real content for screen reader users.
Example
.step-2 { order: 1; } .step-1 { order: 2; } /* visual order ≠ DOM order */Why it matters
Screen-reader and keyboard users who encounter content in DOM order.
How to test
Read the full page with a screen reader: repeated announcements of 'blank' usually mean empty elements or stray whitespace nodes are in the reading order — inspect the DOM at that point.
How to fix
The screen reader must read content in an order matching the visual/logical order, item by item — nothing skipped, merged, fragmented, or added.
<!-- DOM order matches the order the CSS makes visible: step-1, then step-2 -->When CSS reorders content visually, the underlying DOM order must still match, or the reading order breaks.
Outcome
On a webinar platform's registration form, this barrier is gone for screen-reader and keyboard users who encounter content in DOM order — they can complete the task without hitting this wall.
Who is affected
Screen-reader and keyboard users who encounter content in DOM order.
Learn more
- Understanding Understanding document (opens in a new tab)
Related scenarios
- CSS Layout Changes That Scramble the Screen Reader’s Reading Order
- Word Spelled Out Letter by Letter Instead of Read as a Word
- Text Columns Faked With Spaces Read Aloud Out of Order
- Layout Table That Reads in a Nonsensical Order When Linearized
- CSS Reordering That Makes Code Order Differ From Visual Order
- Multi-Column Article Whose Code Order Interleaves the Columns