WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Combobox: what should the Esc key do?

for

From: Isabel Holdsworth
Date: Apr 13, 2018 2:49AM

Sure enough the Esc key works as expected in native HTML5 comboboxes,
but it doesn't seem to work in composite ARIA-enabled widgets. I
wonder if there's some way to force the ESC key to be passed to the
browser first before it's grabbed by the AT? I can build a hack where
the container has a role of "application" until the Esc key is
pressed, but in that scenario JAWS says "application" a lot when the
user interacts with the widget.

I'd much rather use a native implementation, but it's just not
possible to get enough info from it to let users know how many results
are available as they type. Very frustrating.

On 11/04/2018, <EMAIL REMOVED> < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Jaws, passes the escape key through. AS it closes the dropdown after being
> pressed. Need to check NVDA as I cannot recall how it behaves.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of
> Birkir R. Gunnarsson
> Sent: Wednesday, 11 April 2018 12:09 AM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Combobox: what should the Esc key do?
>
> Lynn
>
> Weird, I thought the screen reader did not intercept the escape key in
> forms/application mode if the page does something with it. A screen reader
> should be in forms mode when user navigates inside an input field or in an
> element with role="combobox" or "listbox".
> Now that you mention it, I think this is an NVDA bug. I don't thin jaws
> exhibits this behavior.
> Well, easy to find out.
>
>
>
>
> On 4/10/18, Lynn Holdsworth < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I'm creating a combobox widget, and wonder what's the most appropriate
>> behaviour for the Esc key when using a screenreader?
>>
>> On its own, when the Esc key is pressed the textbox is left with the
>> value the user typed into it, and the listbox that dropped down below
>> it disappears.
>>
>> When using JAWS or NVDA, the screenreader grabs the Esc key and
>> interprets it as an instruction to leave forms mode. Pressing Esc a
>> second time triggers the combobox's standard behaviour. I don't feel
>> that this is intuitive for the user.
>>
>> Would it be better if this could work the other way round: pressing
>> Esc the first time hides the dropdown list, and a second press takes
>> the screenreader out of forms mode? I think I could achieve this by
>> adding an application role to the wrapping div and then removing it
>> once the Esc key has been pressed.
>>
>> I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this.
>>
>> Cheers, Lynn
>> >> >> archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
>> >>
>
>
> --
> Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
> > > http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >
> > > > >