Re: Moving focus with a screen reader and switch access control - is there a difference?

On 25/10/2018 20:15, Rogers N.E. wrote:
> FAO: The WAI IG
> 
> I am currently undertaking accessibility tests using an Android Nexus 5 
> on a responsive web site using the Firefox mobile browser 62.0.3.
> 
> I tested a particular page and the focus with a green box could be moved 
> to every option on the page using Talkback and a single swipe gesture 
> left or right. However, when using the Switch Access Control (Next & 
> Previous mapped to hard volume up & down buttons) only one option on the 
> same web page could be navigated to using the default red box focus.
> 
> This prompted the question: is there a difference in the way a screen 
> reader and switch access control operate when accessing the DOM, what is 
> actually taking place under the hood, particularly for the switch access 
> control?
> 
> I have tried to find this out on the web without success. I would value 
> help in understanding this further.

It's the difference between the virtual cursor of screen readers (like 
TalkBack) and focus. TalkBack needs to be able to move through 
everything in the page so that the user can read things - not just 
focusable elements, but static text etc. This is the virtual cursor.

Switch access, like keyboard access using, for instance, TAB/SHIFT-TAB, 
only moves between focusable elements, as it's used by sighted users who 
don't need to place any kind of focus/cursor on static/non-focusable 
content in order to read it.

P
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Patrick H. Lauke

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Received on Thursday, 25 October 2018 23:46:06 UTC