WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: JAWS and Describedby

for

From: Bryan Garaventa
Date: Sep 14, 2016 2:25PM

This is likely a JAWS bug when trying to handle IE11, which has lots of historical issues with handling events like this.

To summarize the events that happen, when an element receives focus, its Name and Description is detected and announced. Name is the accessible name, and Description in this case is referenced using aria-describedby.

Also, if you dynamically change the element that is referenced using aria-describedby or change the ID that it points to while focus remains on that form field or element, the browser fires a description_changed event which is supposed to be detected by the AT and cause this information to be announced. This is also important for cases when there is a delay between when the element receives focus and when the tooltip is rendered, which may not actually be in the DOM until a second or two after, making it necessary to set aria-describedby after this element receives focus.

Unfortunately these events have never fired correctly in IE11 and likely never will now, so JAWS has to have hard coded detection mechanisms in place to try and do this manually as a result.

So typing in a form field by itself should not cause aria-describedby to be announced repeatedly by JAWS, as long as the Description remains static.

If you want a situation like the following instead for typing into a form field, so that dynamic help messages are announced automatically as you type:
http://whatsock.com/tsg/Coding%20Arena/Inline%20Form%20Field%20Validation%20and%20Dynamic%20Help%20Tooltips/Dynamic%20Help%20Tooltip/demo.htm

Then at present a live region using aria-live=polite is your best bet.

If what you want is just one Description however, then I recommend filing a JAWS bug with steps to reproduce the behavior in IE11, since this is likely just a repetetive announcement bug.




Bryan Garaventa
Accessibility Fellow
SSB BART Group, Inc.
<EMAIL REMOVED>
415.624.2709 (o)
www.SSBBartGroup.com


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jamous, JP
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2016 1:09 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] JAWS and Describedby

I removed the role="alert". The issue remains.

What is happening is that JAWS gets the focus on the text box and goes into forms mode on. The moment I type the first letter, JAWS acts as if it refocused on the text box object.

I even removed one of the IDs and used one with aria-describedby. The issue continued.

I figured maybe because the input type is "password". I changed it to "text" and nothing different.

NVDA and VoiceOver do not do that at all. Even JAWS 17 does not do it with Firefox. Only good old IE 11.




**************************************************

Jean-Pierre Jamous
Digital Accessibility Specialist & Developer UI Accessibility Team

SME for EBN Include
Digital Accessibility Specialist & Blind and Visually Impaired Expert

The only limitations in life are those we set for ourselves

**************************************************















-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2016 2:53 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] JAWS and Describedby

Hi
Would role="alert" on the validator span be causing this? I suspect so, but don't have time to test right now.
In any case, I wouldn't use role="alert" on this, use it sparingly and only for critical live region situations, not in a tooltip scenario.



On 9/14/16, Jamous, JP < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I know JAWS 17 has issues. I mean personal issues with aria-describedby.
> Yet, what I am observing does not make any darn sense to me. Can
> someone shed any light on this?
>
> JAWS 17 fires up the aria-describedby when the password text box gets focus.
> That's how it should be. However, if I type the first character, JAWS
> fires the aria-describedby again. If I continue to type, JAWS does not
> fire the aria-describedby.
>
> If I switch to Firefox with JAWS 17, the behavior is different and as
> it should be. JAWS fires up aria-describedby only when the text box
> gets the focus.
>
> I cannot figure out for the life of me why JAWS 17 and IE 11 re-fire
> the aria-describedby when the first character is typed in the text box.
>
> Here is my code, you can put it in a note pad and test it.
>
> I need a solution to this or a work around if any of you know of one.
>
> <div>
> <label for="Password1">
> Password
> </label>
> <input type="password" aria-describedby="sc-validatr-15 password-hints"
> required="" id="Password1" />
> <span role="alert" id="sc-validatr-15"> Please enter a strong
> password.
> </span>
> <div id="password-hints">
> <h3>
> Why create a strong password?
> </h3>
> <p>
> Account security is becoming more and more important all the time. And
> in order to keep your account safe, we need your help. We know that
> creating a strong and unique password might not be easy, but it can be
> fun. Try using an inside joke, a rhyme, or a reference to something only you would know.
> </p>
> </div>
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >


--
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.