diff --git a/web/src/list_widget.ts b/web/src/list_widget.ts
index 423411d329..708e2ad627 100644
--- a/web/src/list_widget.ts
+++ b/web/src/list_widget.ts
@@ -586,8 +586,9 @@ export function handle_sort<Key, Item>($th: JQuery, list: ListWidget<Key, Item>)
             <th data-sort="status"></th>
         </thead>
         */
-    const sort_type: string = $th.data("sort");
-    const prop_name: string = $th.data("sort-prop");
+    const sort_type = $th.attr("data-sort");
+    const prop_name = $th.attr("data-sort-prop");
+    assert(sort_type !== undefined);
 
     if ($th.hasClass("active")) {
         if (!$th.hasClass("descend")) {
diff --git a/web/tests/list_widget.test.js b/web/tests/list_widget.test.js
index bc13b50f2b..f932894e16 100644
--- a/web/tests/list_widget.test.js
+++ b/web/tests/list_widget.test.js
@@ -315,15 +315,15 @@ function sort_button(opts) {
     // don't have any abstraction for the button and its
     // siblings other than direct jQuery actions.
 
-    function data(sel) {
-        switch (sel) {
-            case "sort":
+    function attr(name) {
+        switch (name) {
+            case "data-sort":
                 return opts.sort_type;
-            case "sort-prop":
+            case "data-sort-prop":
                 return opts.prop_name;
             /* istanbul ignore next */
             default:
-                throw new Error("unknown selector: " + sel);
+                throw new Error("unknown attribute: " + name);
         }
     }
 
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ function sort_button(opts) {
     const classList = new Set();
 
     const $button = {
-        data,
+        attr,
         closest: lookup(".progressive-table-wrapper", {
             data: lookup("list-widget", opts.list_name),
         }),