[myfonj]

> The main menu? Which is behind the same ≡ button on most pages on the internet?

This triple dash thingy (≡) is in this case "identical to" Unicode character, so this is what you'd most probably hear from the screen reader. Other pages (mis)use similar characters, for example "Trigram for heaven". Not very helpful.

Truly accessible active elements must communicate their function through meaningful text, not cryptic astral Unicode from exotic blocks.

[enyo]

The use of this symbol in the article is a placeholder. Obviously nobody would actually use this on their website...

[jameshart]

To be fair the OP hides the trigram from screen readers and provides them with the ‘open menu’ label.

[myfonj]

No, they did not, they present both "accessible hidden link" and "inaccessible visible label", at least I see no `aria-hidden="true"` in the code [1] on the label right now, I see just:

    <label for="menustate">
      <span class="open">≡</span>
      <span class="close">×</span>
    </label>

So there still remains "readable" structure loosely identical to

    <label>identical to multiplication sign</label>

(With active CSS, only one half would be presented to SR, since the other has `display: none`, but still…)

BTW Fact that wording of the link in the article pointing to the codepen is "this codepen" is also … not right.

[1] https://codepen.io/enyo/pen/yLqjrOR

[enyo]

Oh you’re right, I forgot to add this in the article + codepen. (It’s how the button on the site itself is implemented and I forgot to integrate it)

[jameshart]

You're right - I guess I assumed they'd added that in the full codepen.