From cbc48af2469e9b6e71020ba1497cf9821c8ae64b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: seonghobae <8172694+seonghobae@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2026 19:32:44 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Fix empty state tag in HTML validation reports to improve
 accessibility

Change the empty state wrapper in `fast_mlsirm/scoring/essay/validation_report_html.py` from `<p>` to `<div>`. This change ensures that ARIA live regions (`role="status"`) are correctly applied using a generic container (`<div>`), rather than overriding the implicit native role of a semantic element (`<p>` has an implicit role of `paragraph`), which can cause issues with screen readers or trigger warnings in strict accessibility testing tools. Updated corresponding test assertions to match.
---
 .../scoring/essay/validation_report_html.py       |  4 ++--
 .../test_scoring_essay_validation_report_html.py  | 15 ++++++---------
 2 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/python/fast_mlsirm/scoring/essay/validation_report_html.py b/python/fast_mlsirm/scoring/essay/validation_report_html.py
index a2e58b26b..0f46c8688 100644
--- a/python/fast_mlsirm/scoring/essay/validation_report_html.py
+++ b/python/fast_mlsirm/scoring/essay/validation_report_html.py
@@ -108,8 +108,8 @@ def _identifier_list(
     """Render identifier evidence as a list or explicit atomic status region."""
     if not identifiers:
         return (
-            '<p class="empty-state" role="status" aria-atomic="true">'
-            f"{escape(empty_message)}</p>"
+            '<div class="empty-state" role="status" aria-atomic="true">'
+            f"{escape(empty_message)}</div>"
         )
     items = "".join(
         f"<li><code>{escape(identifier)}</code></li>" for identifier in identifiers
diff --git a/tests/test_scoring_essay_validation_report_html.py b/tests/test_scoring_essay_validation_report_html.py
index 3f58a1df6..d939e48cd 100644
--- a/tests/test_scoring_essay_validation_report_html.py
+++ b/tests/test_scoring_essay_validation_report_html.py
@@ -97,15 +97,12 @@ def test_custom_title_and_identifiers_are_escaped(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
 
 def test_empty_identifier_list_renders_explicit_state() -> None:
     """An empty evidence list keeps paragraph spacing and atomic status semantics."""
-    assert (
-        validation_report_html._identifier_list(
-            (),
-            empty_message="No boundary is available.",
-        )
-        == (
-            '<p class="empty-state" role="status" aria-atomic="true">'
-            "No boundary is available.</p>"
-        )
+    assert validation_report_html._identifier_list(
+        (),
+        empty_message="No boundary is available.",
+    ) == (
+        '<div class="empty-state" role="status" aria-atomic="true">'
+        "No boundary is available.</div>"
     )