RE: SC 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured

the elephant in the room being multinational software vendors flogging
inaccessible product . 

 

 

From: Audrey Frank <Audrey.Frank@thinkhighpointjv.com> 
Sent: Wednesday, January 1, 2025 7:24 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: SC 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured

 

Good afternoon,

 

My team develops eLearning modules using Adobe Captivate. Sometimes we
include "click to reveal" interactions. This involves the learner clicking a
series of buttons, each of which shows a new block of text. The Forward
button is not visible until the learner has clicked all of the buttons.

 

We have been using a workaround for JAWS users and here's why - if a JAWS
user tabs to the reveal buttons and presses enter, JAWS stops reading as
soon as they hit Enter. So we put all of the "hidden" text on the button
itself and tell them to tab to it and listen (but not to activate it, since
that would stop JAWS). The problem is that since they do not activate those
buttons, the Forward button never appears for them. 

 

Our solution to this has been to include a button that is invisible but that
receives visible keyboard focus. JAWS users are instructed to tab to it and
activate it. We have been keeping the button itself invisible so that
sighted users don't realize there's already a Forward button that would
allow them to move forward without clicking the reveal buttons. 

 

Is this a violation of 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured? The focus itself is
visible, but the button is (by design) invisible. I imagine that this is a
decent solution for totally blind JAWS users, but my question is about JAWS
users who are partially sighted, or keyboard users who do not use a screen
reader at all.

 

Image below with an arrow pointing to the "invisible" forward button when it
is tabbed to



 

Thank you,

 

Audrey Frank

Manager, Media Development & 508 Accessibility | She/Her/Hers

Cell 317.376.0477



 

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