selecting text to annotate in a web application

Hey,

I need to implement a highlighting and annotation solution in an
e-learning platform (inside of textbooks), when reading how Voiceover
allows you to select text -
https://www.apple.com/voiceover/info/guide/_1128.html

"You can use standard Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts to select text.

Note:You must have set text selection tracking preferences for moving
the keyboard cursor and VoiceOver cursor together in VoiceOver
Utility. You can turn on and off your cursor tracking preferences.

Turning off cursor tracking

Here are ways to select text:

To select the character to the right or left of the insertion point,
press Shift-Right Arrow or Shift-Left Arrow.
To select the word to the right or left of the insertion point, press
Shift-Option-Right Arrow or Shift-Option-Left Arrow.
To select the text from the keyboard cursor to the beginning or to the
end of the line, press Shift-Command-Right Arrow or Shift-Command-Left
Arrow.
To select the text from the keyboard cursor to the beginning or to the
end of the text area, press Shift-Command-Up Arrow or
Shift-Command-Down Arrow.

You can delete selected text by pressing the Delete key. If you
accidentally delete selected text, use the keyboard shortcut Command-Z
to undo the mistake. This correction works only if it occurs
immediately after the mistake. This shortcut works in many
applications and situations, and is worth trying to see if it corrects
a mistake.

If you can’t select text using standard Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts,
as in an email message that you have received, press VO-Return. Then
press VO-arrow keys to read the text you want to select, and then
press VO-Return again. The text that was read is highlighted and
selected.

To select sections of text that aren’t next to each other, first turn
off cursor tracking by pressing VO-Shift-F3. Then move the VoiceOver
cursor to the first item and press VO-Command-Space bar. Move to the
next item and press the keys again. Repeat until all the text you want
is selected."

it sounds like a laborious process - do people who actually user
screenreaders and have to select text find it to be an ordeal as I
would suppose? ,do you experience any screenreader browser combo is
better for selecting text, do you have any examples of a highlighting
/ text annotation implementation for end users to use on text that is
especially nice in how it behaves for a screenreader user.

These questions also apply, but the last one especially, to mobility
disabled users.

Thanks,
Bryan Rasmussen

Received on Monday, 4 October 2021 10:35:01 UTC