Administration: Add hierarchy descriptions to page row titles by Maxerns · Pull Request #12394 · WordPress/wordpress-develop

Maxerns · 2026-07-02T15:58:46Z

Adds accessible hierarchy information to child page row titles in the Pages list table.

The visual dash prefix is moved outside the title link and marked aria-hidden, keeping the link’s accessible name aligned with its visible title. Child page links now reference a hidden description with aria-describedby, using the immediate parent title.

Adds PHPUnit coverage for:

child page row titles including an aria-describedby hierarchy description
top-level page row titles not receiving hierarchy descriptions

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/64932

Testing

Passed:

npm run test:php -- --filter Tests_Admin_wpPostsListTable tests/phpunit/tests/admin/wpPostsListTable.php
npm run test:php -- --group 64932
git diff --check

Use of AI Tools

AI assistance: yes.
Tool(s): Codex
Model(s): GPT-5.5
Used for: Test additions

github-actions · 2026-07-02T15:58:56Z

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github-actions · 2026-07-02T15:58:57Z

The following accounts have interacted with this PR and/or linked issues. I will continue to update these lists as activity occurs. You can also manually ask me to refresh this list by adding the props-bot label.

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The following contributors have not linked their GitHub and WordPress.org accounts: @Maxerns.

Contributors, please read how to link your accounts to ensure your work is properly credited in WordPress releases.

Core Committers: Use this line as a base for the props when committing in SVN:

Props joedolson, sabernhardt.

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github-actions · 2026-07-02T16:03:18Z

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sabernhardt

Please revert the second commit, which contains unrelated changes for the REST API.

I also suggested a small edit to the printf() function.

sabernhardt · 2026-07-07T15:51:11Z

 		if ( $can_edit_post && 'trash' !== $post->post_status ) {
 			printf(
-				'<a class="row-title" href="%s">%s%s</a>',
+				'%2$s<a class="row-title" href="%1$s"%3$s>%4$s</a>%5$s',


I think these could be rearranged so the numbers are in order, not using %2$s before %1$s.

'%1$s<a class="row-title" href="%2$s"%3$s>%4$s</a>%5$s', $pad, get_edit_post_link( $post->ID ),

Good spot, i've updated it now

sabernhardt

This branch should be refreshed to trunk, but the changes seem good.

Test Report

Patch tested: PR 12394 as of commit 303135e
Note: I created a branch on my fork from this pull request and updated the branch to trunk. The .diff file from GitHub did not apply to my SVN site because it does not include changes from r62685.

Environment

WordPress: 7.1-alpha-62161-src
Subdirectory: No
PHP: 8.3.14
Server: Apache/2.4.62 (Win64) PHP/8.3.14 mod_fcgid/2.3.10-dev
Database: mysqli (Server: 9.1.0 / Client: mysqlnd 8.3.14)
Browser: Firefox 152.0 with NVDA 2026.1.1
OS: Windows 11
Theme: Twenty Fifteen 4.2
MU Plugins: None activated
Plugins:
- Test Reports 1.3.0

Steps taken

Create a page plus child pages at multiple levels.
Create a hierarchical custom post type and add posts with multiple levels.
Use a screen reader to hear the links and their related text when the page or post has a parent.

Results

✅ Adds "Child of" context to links for child pages, as well as for child posts in hierarchical custom post types.
✅ Does not add the span or ARIA attribute when a page does not have a parent, or when the post type is non-hierarchical.
✅ Updates markup in Quick Edit without refreshing the page.

Pages

Parent page visited link
Child page visited link Child of Parent page
Grandchild page visited link Child of Child page

<strong><a class="row-title" href="http://localhost/dev/src/wp-admin/post.php?post=1981&amp;action=edit">Parent page</a></strong>

<strong><span aria-hidden="true">&#8212;</span> <a class="row-title" href="http://localhost/dev/src/wp-admin/post.php?post=1983&amp;action=edit" aria-describedby="post-hierarchy-1983">Child page</a><span id="post-hierarchy-1983" class="hidden">Child of Parent page</span></strong>

<strong><span aria-hidden="true">&#8212;</span> <span aria-hidden="true">&#8212;</span> <a class="row-title" href="http://localhost/dev/src/wp-admin/post.php?post=1985&amp;action=edit" aria-describedby="post-hierarchy-1985">Grandchild page</a><span id="post-hierarchy-1985" class="hidden">Child of Child page</span></strong>

Hierarchical custom post type

custom Animal post type with three hierarchical posts

Pets visited link
Dogs visited link Child of Pets
Labrador visited link Child of Pets

<strong><a class="row-title" href="http://localhost/dev/src/wp-admin/post.php?post=1987&amp;action=edit">Pets</a></strong>

<strong><span aria-hidden="true">&#8212;</span> <a class="row-title" href="http://localhost/dev/src/wp-admin/post.php?post=1988&amp;action=edit" aria-describedby="post-hierarchy-1988">Dogs</a><span id="post-hierarchy-1988" class="hidden">Child of Pets</span></strong>

<strong><span aria-hidden="true">&#8212;</span> <span aria-hidden="true">&#8212;</span> <a class="row-title" href="http://localhost/dev/src/wp-admin/post.php?post=1989&amp;action=edit" aria-describedby="post-hierarchy-1989">Labrador</a><span id="post-hierarchy-1989" class="hidden">Child of Dogs</span></strong>

Posts (and non-heirarchical custom post types)

Standard post visited link

<strong><a class="row-title" href="http://localhost/dev/src/wp-admin/post.php?post=1979&amp;action=edit">Standard post</a></strong>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Improves accessibility of hierarchical Page titles in the admin list table by keeping the row title link’s accessible name aligned with its visible title, while adding a hierarchy description for child pages via aria-describedby.

Changes:

Moves the visual hierarchy dash prefix outside the title link and marks it aria-hidden.
Adds a per-row aria-describedby reference to a generated hierarchy description (“Child of {Parent}”).
Adds PHPUnit coverage for child vs. top-level page row title output (plus a helper for capturing list table output).

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

File	Description
`src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-posts-list-table.php`	Adjusts page row title markup to add an accessible hierarchy description and to make the dash prefix decorative (`aria-hidden`).
`tests/phpunit/tests/admin/wpPostsListTable.php`	Adds PHPUnit assertions (and a helper) validating the new hierarchy description behavior for child vs. top-level pages.

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…tags.

Span can't take `aria-describedby`, so switch to screen-reader-text and output inside title wrapper.

…reader text.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

… update tests for new expectation.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

joedolson · 2026-07-21T21:49:36Z

Added a couple of changes: one to strip tags before printing HTML inside the span, and one to extend coverage onto posts without links, which requires a different mechanism to expose the information.

joedolson · 2026-07-21T22:28:58Z

@Maxerns If you can link your Github profile to a WordPress profile (https://profiles.wordpress.org), I can give you props; as it is, I'm unable to link your account. I'm going to cite your Github handle; but I can change the props later, if you provide a WordPress profile handle.

…ers.

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Copilot was unable to review this pull request because the user who requested the review has reached their quota limit.

In post list tables, subpages within hierarchical post types were visibly marked using an em dash to represent their nesting position. This information was not communicated in any way to screen reader users. Add `aria-describedby` with associated descriptive text to linked post titles, and screen reader text for non-editable post title contexts. Developed in #12394 Props juliemoynat, audrasjb, ekaterina92, ishikaatxecurify, aion11, sabernhardt, maxerns, joedolson. Fixes #64932. git-svn-id: https://develop.svn.wordpress.org/trunk@62814 602fd350-edb4-49c9-b593-d223f7449a82

github-actions · 2026-07-21T23:00:15Z

A commit was made that fixes the Trac ticket referenced in the description of this pull request.

SVN changeset: 62814
GitHub commit: 35e63f8

This PR will be closed, but please confirm the accuracy of this and reopen if there is more work to be done.

In post list tables, subpages within hierarchical post types were visibly marked using an em dash to represent their nesting position. This information was not communicated in any way to screen reader users. Add `aria-describedby` with associated descriptive text to linked post titles, and screen reader text for non-editable post title contexts. Developed in WordPress/wordpress-develop#12394 Props juliemoynat, audrasjb, ekaterina92, ishikaatxecurify, aion11, sabernhardt, maxerns, joedolson. Fixes #64932. Built from https://develop.svn.wordpress.org/trunk@62814 git-svn-id: http://core.svn.wordpress.org/trunk@62094 1a063a9b-81f0-0310-95a4-ce76da25c4cd

nhance hierarchical display with aria attributes and update tests

1de3afa

pento force-pushed the trunk branch from 3af2d27 to 64ede28 Compare July 6, 2026 03:10

sabernhardt reviewed Jul 7, 2026

View reviewed changes

Maxerns force-pushed the chore/admin-hirearchy-desc branch from a0c296c to 1de3afa Compare July 7, 2026 20:11

rearrange link formatting in posts list table

303135e

Maxerns requested a review from sabernhardt July 7, 2026 20:53

sabernhardt approved these changes Jul 11, 2026

View reviewed changes

Maxerns and others added 3 commits July 12, 2026 00:40

Merge branch 'trunk' into chore/admin-hirearchy-desc

520a3f9

trigger CI rerun after flaky wp cli setup failure

577b3b7

Merge branch 'trunk' into chore/admin-hirearchy-desc

1d0be76

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 21, 2026 16:46

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of joedolson July 21, 2026 16:46 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Jul 21, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-posts-list-table.php

Comment thread src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-posts-list-table.php

Comment thread tests/phpunit/tests/admin/wpPostsListTable.php

Comment thread tests/phpunit/tests/admin/wpPostsListTable.php

joedolson added 3 commits July 21, 2026 16:14

Strip tags before emitting inside span to avoid announcing escaped …

17d9ba7

…tags.

Also render relevant information when not editable

5ab388d

Span can't take `aria-describedby`, so switch to screen-reader-text and output inside title wrapper.

Add a space inside wrapper to add a speech break when used as screen …

09fc3c6

…reader text.

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 21, 2026 21:32

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of joedolson July 21, 2026 21:33 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Jul 21, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-posts-list-table.php

Comment thread src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-posts-list-table.php Outdated

Comment thread src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-posts-list-table.php Outdated

Don't instantiate HTML API on empty strings; removing trailing comma;…

84c901c

… update tests for new expectation.

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 21, 2026 21:40

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of joedolson July 21, 2026 21:40 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Jul 21, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-posts-list-table.php Outdated

joedolson approved these changes Jul 21, 2026

View reviewed changes

Avoid HTML API overhead and make easier to use different output wrapp…

2d62ffb

…ers.

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 21, 2026 22:35

Copilot AI reviewed Jul 21, 2026

Fix variable alignment

912c08e

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 21, 2026 22:57

Copilot AI reviewed Jul 21, 2026

github-actions Bot closed this Jul 21, 2026

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Test Report

Environment

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Results

Pages

Hierarchical custom post type

Posts (and non-heirarchical custom post types)

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