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Re: aria-label issue with JAWS

for

From: Robert Fentress
Date: Jul 19, 2018 1:13PM

As regards labels on <ul> tags, here is something I posted recently on the
a11y slack workspace in response to Karkala's question posted there:

"For JAWS 18 using IE 11, when `aria-label` is placed on a `<ul>`, the
label is surfaced when you enter the list using the virtual cursor (using
the down arrow to progress forward through the document while in Virtual
Mode). If you move into the list by tabbing, though, assuming your list
contains focusable items, the label of the list you have entered will not
be surfaced when the item in the list receives focus. If you place the
list in a `<div>` and change the role of the `<div>` to `group` using
`role="group"`, and then add `aria-label` to that `<div>`, you can get the
label to be voiced in either case. While this is the most reliable way of
getting the label to be voiced, I usually wouldn't recommend it, since you
are adding another grouping structure around something that is already,
essentially, a group (the `<ul>`). However, it probably depends on how
important it is in your context that the label be surfaced reliably in all
contexts in all screen readers. "

SteveF, I noticed that your tests don't check to see how the user accesses
the labelled list, which informs whether or not it is surfaced in JAWS/IE.
Whether this is expected behavior or not, I'm not sure, but it is good to
know.

One thing I'm curious about as regards the relationship between lists and
groups is whether lists are properly considered a special type of the group
role or what. The spec seems to indicate there is some sort of
commonality, since groups can contain list items, but it is a bit
confusing. Actually, exploring further, it looks like they are both
subclasses of the section abstract role (which frustratingly does not
denote a landmark, even though the section *tag* is). Should the expected
behavior then be that anything that is a subclass of the section abstract
role should have its label surfaced? If so, should it always do it when
the virtual cursor or equivalent enters the section, or only when the user
first sets focus to an element in the list, or both? Is there any place in
any W3C standard that describes what should be expected in that regard, or
is it just left up to however the assistive technology vendor wants to
present things? That seems suboptimal from the perspective of a developer
trying to decide whether and how to label things.

Best,
Rob

On Thu, Jul 19, 2018 at 6:55 AM Steve Faulkner < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:

> some tests I did yesterday may be of interest
> https://s.codepen.io/stevef/debug/BPzMML
>
> --
>
> Regards
>
> SteveF
> Current Standards Work @W3C
> <http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2015/03/current-standards-work-at-w3c/>;
>
> On 19 July 2018 at 11:46, Birkir R. Gunnarsson <
> <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> wrote:
>
> > I added aria-label to ul elements, with and without tabindex="-1".
> > IE11 on Windows 10 announced the aria-label value on both.
> >
> >
> > On 7/19/18, Mallory < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > UL's already have a "list" role by default, but having a role isn't
> > enough a
> > > lot of the time, especially for IE.
> > > https://developer.paciellogroup.com/blog/2017/
> > 07/short-note-on-aria-label-aria-labelledby-and-aria-describedby/
> > >
> > > It mentions IE specifically, where Microsoft has a thing in their API
> > where
> > > they look for either certain roles OR a tabindex to decide whether an
> > object
> > > is "accessible" and therefore can have accessibility thingies in it
> like
> > > aria-foo.
> > >
> > > cheers,
> > > Mallory
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jul 18, 2018, at 10:29 AM, Mohith BP wrote:
> > >> Do you have provided any valid role for <ul>?
> > >>
> > >> On 7/18/18, Kakarla Meharoon < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> > >> > hi everyone
> > >> >
> > >> > In IE browser aria-label is not read out by the JAWS and aria-label
> is
> > >> > present on the UL element
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> > *Thanks*
> > >> > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> >
> > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
> > > > > > > > > >
> > > > >


--
*Rob Fentress*
*Web Accessibility Solutions Designer*
Accessible Technologies at Virginia Tech
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