RE: tab vs. arrow keys with NVDA and Firefox

Carmen,

I’m not sure what you are trying to fix.

The enter key is used during tabbing to select the links/buttons or selectable elements, which you said works in your original email query.

When you use the arrow keys you are navigating the DOM or code and you will hear things but you cannot select them with the Enter key in most cases. It is not for that purpose. This is used by actual users of screen readers to navigate the page and content to hear what is on the page. Arrows up and down go through the code, line by line, arrows left and right will go through words and sentences.

You should hear the same thing as when you put focus directly before the heading in this case, and it may be way before it for that matter. Then make sure you are in Browse mode for NVDA or Virtual PC Cursor on for JAWS and use the Ins+down arrow key to have the screen reader read from that location.

You are now listening to the page as it is coded without css repositioning and other tricks used for visual presentation.

The bottom link:

1. Your buttons/links are keyboard accessible, period.
2. You making more of this than it is.

Alan Smith

From: Schafer, Carmen
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2017 3:01 PM
To: Matthew Putland; Sean Murphy (seanmmur); w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: RE: tab vs. arrow keys with NVDA and Firefox

We re-tested with JAWS 18 on IE and Firefox and got the same results as with NVDA.  When we tested the linked buttons using only the keyboard (no screen reader) with Firefox and Chrome, each button gets focus (highlighted) and we can use the enter key to follow the link.

Caption: Nursing button highlighted

We will work with the developer to see if scripting and tabindex are the culprits. 

Thank you, everyone, for the useful suggestions and information.
Carmen 

From: Matthew Putland [mailto:matthew.putland@mediaaccess.org.au] 
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2017 7:50 PM
To: Sean Murphy (seanmmur) <seanmmur@cisco.com>; Schafer, Carmen <schafercg@missouri.edu>; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: RE: tab vs. arrow keys with NVDA and Firefox

Hi Sean and Carmen,

Carmen’s issue quite fascinated me as NVDA is reacting in a way that I wouldn’t normally expect for a bunch of normal links. If I were to throw the code that Carmen has shown us into a web browser, NVDA announces the links all in one line when using the arrow keys, which is what I would expect. My NVDA announces the following in Firefox:

Heading level 3 Find a Job
Link Physician, link Nursing, link All Openings

I agree with Sean in that there is likely some unnecessary OnClick scripting placed on these links. I think removing this sneaky script code will prevent NVDA from just saying “Clickable” and will instead announce the links in one line. Personally, I think the best way of providing those list of links in HTML is to provide it in a list, remove the unnecessary tabindex and adding a title attribute for the link which opens externally:

<ul>
<li><a class="btn btn-yellow" href="/jobseeker/physician">Physicians</a></li>
<li><a class="btn btn-yellow" href="/jobseeker/nursing">Nursing</a></li>
<li><a class="btn btn-yellow external" href="/jobseeker/allopenings " target="_blank" title="(Opens in a new Window)">All Openings</a></li>
</ul>

This code will improve the semantics by getting the screen reader to announce a list with three items, but if you position the <li> all on one line, NVDA will still read out all the links on one down-arrow. It’s always been silly that NVDA has done this, I wish it didn’t take any note of the CSS in this regard.

Cheers,

Matthew Putland
Senior Analyst, Digital Accessibility 
Media Access Australia / Centre for Inclusive Design
Level 3, 61 Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA 6100   Mobile: 0431 924 288 
www.mediaaccess.org.au     http://centreforinclusivedesign.org 
 
My working hours are 11am – 7:30pm AEDT.


From: Sean Murphy (seanmmur) [mailto:seanmmur@cisco.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, 24 October 2017 3:47 AM
To: Schafer, Carmen <schafercg@missouri.edu>; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: RE: tab vs. arrow keys with NVDA and Firefox

Correction to my prior post. I mention onmouse attribute when I should have said onclick.





Sean Murphy
ENGINEER.CUSTOMER SUPPORT
seanmmur@cisco.com
Tel: +61 2 8446 7751
 

 

 



Cisco Systems, Inc.
The Forum 201 Pacific Highway
ST LEONARDS
2065
Australia
cisco.com




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From: Sean Murphy (seanmmur) 
Sent: Tuesday, 24 October 2017 6:26 AM
To: Schafer, Carmen <schafercg@missouri.edu>; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: RE: tab vs. arrow keys with NVDA and Firefox

In Jaws and not 100% sure with NVDA. The default for Jaws is to automatic activate forms mode. Buttons and links are not triggered by this mode. Thus enter will activate the button/like. Forms mode is activated for those elements which you need to interact with such as a radio button, combo box, edit, etc.

Based upon your output: I notice NVDA announced clickable when using the arrow keys and the code did not show any onmouse attribute. From my recollection this is what causes the screen reader to announce this role. If keyboard support is not present for the clickable (onmouse) then the enter key will not activate.

Another question, if the forms mode is being activated, are you using ARIA and if so, are you using the application attribute? I only ask this is because the wording of the question indicates form mode is being activated with NVDA which gives a different behaviour. If so, why are you using this mode? 







Sean Murphy
ENGINEER.CUSTOMER SUPPORT
seanmmur@cisco.com
Tel: +61 2 8446 7751
 

 

 



Cisco Systems, Inc.
The Forum 201 Pacific Highway
ST LEONARDS
2065
Australia
cisco.com




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From: Schafer, Carmen [mailto:schafercg@missouri.edu] 
Sent: Tuesday, 24 October 2017 1:51 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: tab vs. arrow keys with NVDA and Firefox

Hi all,
I have question regarding arrow keys vs. the tab key using NVDA and Firefox. When I use the tab key on three buttons (see screenshot below), NVDA announces each one individually as I tab and they are accessible using the enter key.  I believe this is called focus mode.  However, when using arrow keys it announces the heading level and a clickable list (see speech output below).  I believe this is called browse mode.  Using the arrow keys, NVDA doesn’t announce each button individually and I cannot access the link with the enter key.  Is this a WCAG 2.0 violation since the buttons can be comprehended and accessed using the tab key, but not with arrow keys?   
     
NVDA Speech Output
Tab Key used: 
       PHYSICIANS  link
       NURSING  link
       ALL OPENINGS  link

Arrow Keys Used:
       Banner banner landmark 
       heading  level 3
       FIND A JOB
       clickable
       list
Code
<h3 class="open">Find a Job</h3>
       <div>
<p>
<a class="btn btn-yellow" href="/jobseeker/physician" tabindex="0">Physicians</a>
<a class="btn btn-yellow" href="/jobseeker/nursing" tabindex="0">Nursing</a>
<a class="btn btn-yellow external" href="/jobseeker/allopenings " target="_blank" tabindex="0">All Openings</a>
</p>
       </div>

I appreciate anyone’s insight into this. 

Regards,
Carmen