sap.m.Breadcrumbs current location renders as focusable <span> without a role, failing WCAG 4.1.2

[boydlaw80-byte]

What is the issue and how can we reproduce it?

sap.m.Breadcrumbs renders the currentLocationText property as a focusable without a role attribute. Accessibility scanners (e.g. Axe, WAVE) flag this as a violation of WCAG 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value) since any focusable element must have a defined role so screen readers can correctly announce it.

Steps to reproduce:

Add a sap.m.Breadcrumbs control with currentLocationText set
Open the page in a browser
Inspect the DOM — the current location renders as with no role
Run an accessibility scan (Axe or WAVE) — reports "Element has no role" or "Focusable element has no role"
Expected: The current location element includes an explicit role (e.g. role="link" consistent with the other breadcrumb items, or at minimum role="text" / role="none" if it is intentionally non-interactive)

Actual: is rendered without any role attribute

Suggested Fix:
Add role="link" to the current location span to be consistent with other breadcrumb items, or expose a way for developers to control this.

Which OpenUI5 version is your project targeting?

Latest (no pinned version, loaded from ui5.sap.com CDN)

Is the issue device- or browser-specific?

Not device- or browser-specific, reproducible across all browsers and devices.

Confirmation

• I have searched the existing issues and reviewed the relevant documentation as well as the API reference.
• I am not disclosing any internal or sensitive information.

[unazko]

Hello colleagues,

The issue is reproducible in the first demokit sample with the AMP tool as well:
https://ui5.sap.com/#/entity/sap.m.Breadcrumbs/sample/sap.m.sample.Breadcrumbs
when the currentLocationText property is set.

In this example the Laptop is the currentLocationText and it is part of the unordered list item rendered at the back.
The Laptop element doesn't look and behave like a link, but it is focusable.

The Laptop should be a text element according to the a11y specification wrapped into a listitem element with aria-current="Page" attribute. From how I see this the tabindex="0" should be placed directly over the listitem element instead of the span element.

I've created an internal incident with the following ID: DINC0856597. Once the issue is resolved the status will be updated here in github.

Best regards,
Boyan

[plamenivanov91]

Hello @boydlaw80-byte ,

There is an active BLI SAPDESIGNSYSTEM-599 in which we will resolve the current issue.

We will update you when it's ready.

Regards,
Plamen Ivanov

[venkatamandavilli-code]

@boydlaw80-byte

Thanks for reporting this accessibility issue.

This is important because breadcrumb navigation is commonly used in enterprise applications to help users understand their current context and navigate across object pages, worklists, and transactional flows.

If the current location element is focusable but does not expose an appropriate role, users relying on screen readers may not receive the correct semantic information. That can create confusion when navigating the page, especially in complex business applications where breadcrumbs provide important orientation.

I agree that the current location should expose clear semantics, either by assigning an appropriate role or by ensuring it is not focusable if it is intended to be purely informational. Aligning this behavior with WCAG 4.1.2 would improve accessibility consistency across applications using sap.m.Breadcrumbs.

Thank you for working on this.