Normal links with aria states selected, pressed, and expanded.

sel

pres

exp

List item links with aria states selected, pressed, and expanded + role=tab.

• sel
• pres
• exp

Buttons with aria states selected, pressed, and expanded.

Link, list item link, and a button with title="Selected".

sel

• sel

Link, list item link, and a button with visually hidden text "Selected".

sel Selected

• sel Selected

aria-selected notes:

• NVDA + IE reads "selected" on links and buttons.
• NVDA + FireFox does not read selected on links or buttons.
• VoiceOver + Safari OS X reads "selected" on links but NOT on buttons.
• JAWS + IE does not read selected on links or buttons.
• JAWS + FireFox does not read selected on links or buttons.

aria-selected + role=tab notes:

• NVDA + IE reads "tab" and "selected" on links.
• NVDA + FireFox reads "tab selected" on links.
• VoiceOver + Safari OS X reads "selected" on links.
• JAWS + IE does not read selected on links or buttons.
• JAWS + FireFox does not read selected on links or buttons.

aria-expanded notes: (aria-expanded has great support!)

• NVDA + IE reads "expanded" on links and buttons.
• NVDA + FireFox reads "expanded" on links and buttons.
• VoiceOver + Safari OS X reads "expanded" on links and buttons.
• JAWS + IE reads "tab open" on links.
• JAWS + FireFox reads "tab open" on links.

Title notes:

• NVDA + FireFox reads title automatically on buttons and links.
• NVDA + IE does not read the title on links. Does read title on button but overrides the text within the button tag.
• VoiceOver + Safari OS X does not read title unless you wait for the help tag to read after a delay or user invokes the help tag command VO+SHIFT+H.
• JAWS + IE does not read title on links or buttons.
• JAWS + FireFox reads title automatically on buttons and links.

Visually hidden text notes: (VISUALLY HIDDEN TEXT IS THE WINNER for selected state at least)

• NVDA + FireFox reads visually hidden text on links and buttons.
• NVDA + IE reads visually hidden text on links and buttons.
• VoiceOver + Safari OS X reads visually hidden text on links and buttons.
• JAWS + IE reads visually hidden text on links and buttons.
• JAWS + FireFox reads visually hidden text on links and buttons.