ARIA alertdialog tests

  • the alertdialog examples below are not modal, nor do they leave the visual layout undisturbed, but this is not what is being tested, which is how NVDA and some other screen readers handle them
  • NVDA tests performed with Firefox 3.6
  • JAWS tests performed with Internet Explorer 8

Update: A day or so after posting these test cases, NVDA fixed things so that it now properly reads the alertdialog's aria-describedby description. NVDA development snapshots 3462 or later work well with Test 2 and Test 3 below. Thanks @jcsteh!

Test 1

  • aria-labelledby and aria-describedby set
  • tabindex="-1" set on alertdialog container
  • no focus set

Test 1 Results

NVDA 2010.1

  • using "say all", since focus doesn't move when activating the button, NVDA rereads the "Open alertdialog #1" and then reads the contents of the alertdialog

JAWS 11.0.756

  • even though focus is not set, JAWS announces the alertdialog and reads all of its contents, but then jumps to the top of the page, reads the h1, and stops

JAWS 10.0.1178

  • JAWS just jumps to the top of the page, reads the h1, and stops

Test 2

  • same as Test 1 except focus set to the alertdialog container

Test 2 Results

NVDA 2010.1

  • NVDA announces "dialog" and the alertdialog title, i.e., "Blah blah dialog"
  • NVDA does not read the alertdialog message text

JAWS 11.0.756

  • JAWS announces the alertdialog, reads all of its contents, and stops

JAWS 10.0.1178

  • JAWS reads all of the alertdialog's contents, but does not identify the alertdialog itself

Test 3

  • same as Test 1 except focus set to the "close" button inside the alertdialog container

Test 3 Results

NVDA 2010.1

  • NVDA announces "dialog" and the alertdialog title, i.e., "Blah blah dialog", and then announces the "close" button
  • NVDA does not read the alertdialog message text

JAWS 11.0.756

  • JAWS announces the alertdialog, reads all of its contents, and then announces the "close" button

JAWS 10.0.1178

  • JAWS simply says "close" but does not identify it as a button, nor does JAWS seem to fully have followed focus to the "close" button as pressing Enter does not activate it

Test 4

  • same as Test 3 except the message text within the alertdialog container has (the invalid) role="label" set, as per suggestion from @jcsteh, in order to get NVDA to read it

Test 4 Results

NVDA 2010.1

  • NVDA announces "dialog" and the alertdialog title, i.e., "Blah blah dialog", reads the message text and then announces the "close" button

JAWS 11.0.756

  • Same as Test 3: JAWS announces the alertdialog, reads all of its contents, and then announces the "close" button

JAWS 10.0.1178

  • Same as Test 3: JAWS simply says "close" but does not identify it as a button, nor does JAWS seem to fully have followed focus to the "close" button as pressing Enter does not activate it
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