RE: Accessible Word Developer tools

I have recently done a lot of testing of form controls in Word documents. My advice in the strongest terms is that you do not create forms in Word. If you cannot produce your forms as HTML, then create PDFs, ideally from InDesign. Word is a very bad starting point, whether you intend to distribute the Word documents or convert them to PDF. However, if it absolutely has to be Word...

Word provides three types of form control, known as Content Control, ActiveX and Legacy. They are all horrible, but in different ways. Content Control items are the newest type and are slightly less horrible, so you should use those. Don't even think about using the ActiveX and Legacy controls.

The good news is that Content Control items support some of the basic accessibility requirements, such as receiving focus and providing an accessible name (which you do by adding a Title in the Properties dialog). You cannot programmatically associate a text label with a form control. There is no more good news.

There is plenty of bad news, though. For instance:


  *   Keyboard navigation is painful. There are two ways to navigate:

     *   Method 1 uses the "arrow" keys, in which case the focus or caret (depending on whether the content is focusable or not) should move into all content. However, it is very slow to navigate this way.

     *   Method 2 uses the "arrow" keys to navigate to the first focusable element, then uses the Tab key to navigate to each subsequent focusable element. This is much more efficient. However, I have seen some peculiar behaviour, such as the focus moving into the paragraph text for no apparent reason, or some form controls not receiving focus even though they are identical to others that do.

  *   The Content Control date picker cannot be opened using a screen reader, so it is necessary to type in the date. People using keyboard controls can open it using Alt+DownArrow.


  *   The Content Control combobox cannot be opened using a screen reader and there is no workaround. People using keyboard controls can open it using Alt+DownArrow.



  *   The Content Control date picker does not enlarge when you zoom the document, either in Print Layout or Web Layout. However, it should be possible to type-in the date manually, so this is not a WCAG non-conformance.


  *   The dropdown lists in Content Control comboboxes do not enlarge either. There is no workaround, so this is a WCAG non-conformance.



  *   Checkboxes are hideous for screen reader users, and there appears to be much more content than there actually is. When using the "right arrow" key to navigate, JAWS 2021 reads:
     *   The checkbox title.
     *   The checkbox title (again) followed by "checkbox not checked", then "ballot box checkbox content control not checked". This appears to be because the Unicode character for the checkbox is called Ballot Box - see https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+2611
     *   The checkbox title (again!).
     *   "Out of form field".
     *   The visible text label.
Note that JAWS reads this content differently in reverse. It also sometimes reads it forwards a little differently - I think it depends on what you were doing previously.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd


From: Siegman, Tzviya <tsiegman@wiley.com>
Sent: 10 November 2021 14:20
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Cc: Swedeski, Denise <dswedeski@wiley.com>
Subject: Accessible Word Developer tools

Is anyone here familiar with making Word documents that have features from Developer tools accessible? I am working on making legal contracts and templates accessible. I am especially interested in the following functions:


  *   Date (both as a fill-in-the blank and a drop-down)
  *   General fill-in-the-blank (e.g., company name, title, address, etc)
  *   Drop-down (e.g., picking an option from a list)
  *   Electronic Signatures

Thanks,
Tzviya

Tzviya Siegman
Information Standards Principal
Wiley
201-748-6884
tsiegman@wiley.com<mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com>