Tag: Window-Eyes

(Not so) Simple ARIA Tree Views and Screen Readers

I started testing a number of screen readers with different ARIA tree views. It turns out there’s a bit going on with screen readers and tree views, so the research got a little lengthy. It also turns out that there’s significant variability across screen readers in how they handle different ARIA tree views. I found no single way to build… Continue reading

Screen Readers and details/summary

The HTML5 details and summary elements can be used to create a disclosure widget for showing and hiding content, something that typically has been done with JavaScript. For example, this type of interaction has often been used for things like FAQs: a list of questions is provided, but the answers hidden; clicking on any one of the questions toggles the… Continue reading

Videos of Screen Readers with Basic HTML5 and ARIA Landmarks

With the rapid development in certain user agents (take that, Firefox!), I’m a little late in getting these up, but I figure some of them are still useful to share. In any case, I posted to YouTube five videos of various screen readers interacting with basic HTML5 section elements and ARIA landmarks. These are videos I presented at the 2011… Continue reading

JAWS, Window-Eyes and display:none: Return to 2007

I was recently asked if JAWS and Window-Eyes still displayed the bugs described by Gez Lemon in 2007 whereby content hidden using display:none was read by the screen readers under certain conditions. The JAWS Bug Back then, the situation with JAWS 7.1 was that it announces content in a span element hidden with display: none if it is in an… Continue reading

HTML5, ARIA Roles, and Screen Readers in March 2011

Last year, in HTML5, ARIA Roles, and Screen Readers in March 2010, I took a look at how then current screen readers behaved with some of the HTML5 section elements and related WAI-ARIA document and landmark roles. Now that the major screen readers have all seen some significant updates, and both Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9 have officially been… Continue reading

An HTML5 plus ARIA "Sanity Check": Working Around Bugs in AT

Dennis at WebAxe recently called for developers to take a “sanity check” when working with HTML5. His point was not to dissuade us from developing with HTML5, but to remind us to do so “caution and care”, in particular because of the current level of support among different browsers and assistive technnologies (AT) for HTML5 and WAI-ARIA. But what do we do when faced with a user agent or AT that, as a result of a bug in its software, and instead of simply ignoring what it doesn’t understand, actively misbehaves when it comes across this or that HTML5 construct or ARIA attribute? Continue reading

Title Attributes as Form Control Labels

Sometimes, often as a result of a web page’s layout or design, a label element cannot be used to identify a form control. Certainly, one can always use a visually hidden label, which is my preferred approach: you never know how the design might change in the future, at which point, if you’ve already got the label in the markup,… Continue reading

Accessible ARIA Tabs

The WAI-ARIA specification remains unfinished and its implementation incomplete. All the same, some of it, e.g., landmark roles, can be used right now to improve the accessibility of web content and applications without causing a detrimental effect in older browsers or assistive technologies. I’m a big fan of WAI-ARIA, and think it is already a very useful collection of techniques… Continue reading

In-Page Links and Input Focus [Again]

That in-page links work and properly update the page’s input focus can be crucial for users that rely on keyboard navigation, especially if they do not also use a screen reader. Often discussed in the context of “skip links”, this has been something of an issue for years, the various reasons for and effects of which have been documented well… Continue reading

HTML5, ARIA Roles, and Screen Readers in May 2010

Note: Updated research and results for March 2011. There are some good, helpful examples and work out there already showing how some screen readers deal with various HTML5 constructs and ARIA roles. I know the specs are not finished yet and assistive technology vendors are always working on it, but I wanted to play around a bit and confirm for… Continue reading