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JAWS 10 and Hidden Text

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From: Terrill Thompson
Date: Mar 23, 2009 1:55PM


It just came to my attention that JAWS 10.0.1139 has the following Internet
Explorer enhancement:
"JAWS no longer announces input fields that are hidden from view by a
cascading style sheet."

That's listed here:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/downloads/jaws/JAWS-whats-new.asp#Enhanceme
nts

Anyone know what this means? I just tested an input field (and paragraph,
for comparison) hidden using various techniques, and I'm not observing any
changes in JAWS behavior. JAWS does not read content hidden using
visibility:hidden or display:none, and it does read content positioned off
screen. I just want to make sure I'm not missing something critical.

Here's my test page:
http://terrillthompson.com/tests/hiddencontent.html

Thanks,

Terrill Thompson
Technology Accessibility Specialist
DO-IT, Accessible Technology
UW Technology Services
University of Washington
<EMAIL REMOVED>
206/221-4168