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Screenreader-only
<gcds-sr-only>

Also called: visually hidden, assistive text. The screenreader-only component is text information only accessible with assistive technologies.
  • GitHub
  • Figma

Screenreader-only component preview

On this page

Coding and accessibility for screenreader-only

Write helpful screenreader-only content

  • Flag contextual information exclusively communicated through visual styling that’s absent from ‌semantic HTML.
  • Keep screenreader-only content clear and very brief. Adding too much text unnecessarily increases the cognitive load.
  • Provide additional text content for assistive technologies only when the interface design relies on visual information to communicate.
  • Avoid including additional information that’s unavailable in the interface.
  • Avoid duplicating any information included in descriptive text (alt-text). If the descriptive text already provides the context, the screenreader-only component may not be needed.

Provide an equitable experience in both Official Languages

  • Use the screenreader-only content to make sure the text will be read in the language associated with the component’s language tag.
  • Avoid using an aria-label attribute to set another language because some assistive technologies will default to page’s source language.

Examples

Explore the different ways you can configure the component. Each example shows a working implementation and ready-to-copy code.

In this section

Optional attributes

These attributes allow you to customize or extend the component’s behaviour and presentation.

tag

The tag attribute sets the appropriate HTML element for the content. By default, it is set to p. 
<gcds-sr-only tag="h2">
  Text only seen by assistive technologies.
</gcds-sr-only>

Slots

The default slot allows you to inject custom content into the component’s primary content area, and named slots, into specific areas.

default

The default slot is for placing the hidden accessible content. 
<gcds-sr-only>
  Text only seen by assistive technologies.
</gcds-sr-only>
Code builder Generate an instance of the component you need by selecting its code properties.
  • Explore by choosing different code values to generate the instance you want.
  • Get the code and pull it into your environment.
  • Add any copy you need to the component (like text for a label).
Note: The code builder uses English for all code elements, which follows standard practice. Text only seen by assistive technologies.
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2026-05-20