Element “td” is missing one or more of the following attributes: “aria-checked”, “role”.

The aria-checked attribute communicates the checked state of an interactive widget to assistive technologies. According to the WAI-ARIA specification, this attribute is only permitted on elements that have a role supporting the “checked” state — such as checkbox, switch, radio, menuitemcheckbox, or menuitemradio. A plain <td> element has an implicit role of cell (or gridcell when inside a role="grid" table), neither of which supports aria-checked. When the validator encounters aria-checked on a <td> without a compatible role, it flags the element as invalid.

This matters for several reasons:

• Accessibility: Screen readers and other assistive technologies rely on the relationship between role and ARIA state attributes. An aria-checked on an element without a recognized checkable role creates a confusing or broken experience — users may not understand that the cell is supposed to be interactive.
• Standards compliance: The ARIA in HTML specification defines strict rules about which attributes are allowed on which roles. Violating these rules means your HTML is technically invalid.
• Browser behavior: Browsers may ignore aria-checked entirely when it’s used on an element without a valid role, making the attribute useless.

How to fix it

You have two main approaches depending on what your <td> is meant to do:

1. Add an appropriate role attribute. If the table cell genuinely represents a checkable control (for example, in an interactive data grid), add role="checkbox", role="switch", or another appropriate checkable role to the <td>, along with tabindex for keyboard accessibility.

2. Remove aria-checked and use a real control. If the cell simply contains a checkbox or toggle, place an actual <input type="checkbox"> inside the <td> and remove the ARIA attributes from the cell itself. Native HTML controls already communicate their state to assistive technologies without extra ARIA.

Examples

❌ Incorrect: aria-checked without a role

<table>
  <tr>
    <td aria-checked="true">Selected</td>
    <td>Item A</td>
  </tr>
</table>

This triggers the error because <td> has the implicit role of cell, which does not support aria-checked.

✅ Fix: Add a compatible role to the <td>

<table role="grid">
  <tr>
    <td role="checkbox" aria-checked="true" tabindex="0">Selected</td>
    <td>Item A</td>
  </tr>
</table>

Here the <td> explicitly has role="checkbox", which supports aria-checked. The tabindex="0" makes it keyboard-focusable, and role="grid" on the table signals that cells may be interactive.

✅ Fix: Use a native checkbox inside the <td>

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <label>
        <input type="checkbox" checked>
        Selected
      </label>
    </td>
    <td>Item A</td>
  </tr>
</table>

This approach is often the best option. The native <input type="checkbox"> already conveys its checked state to assistive technologies, and no ARIA attributes are needed on the <td>.

❌ Incorrect: Mismatched role and aria-checked

<table>
  <tr>
    <td role="button" aria-checked="false">Toggle</td>
    <td>Item B</td>
  </tr>
</table>

The button role does not support aria-checked. This would trigger a different but related validation error.

✅ Fix: Use a role that supports aria-checked

<table role="grid">
  <tr>
    <td role="switch" aria-checked="false" tabindex="0">Toggle</td>
    <td>Item B</td>
  </tr>
</table>

The switch role supports aria-checked and is appropriate for toggle-style controls.

Learn more:

MDN Reference

MDN: td

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MDN Reference

MDN: aria-checked

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MDN Reference

MDN: role

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