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What ARIA role should a pointer have?

for

From: Isabel Holdsworth
Date: Jul 20, 2018 6:44AM

Hi all,

We are creating a widget that allows users to move a pointer in order
to select a "hot spot" on an image.

As an example, if we were to display an image of a diseased heart,
accompanied by a question about the locus of the disease, mouse users
could drag the pointer to the desired spot on the image.

Our pointer is keyboard accessible, but it's not feasible to make it
screenreader-accessible because we don't have any control over the
images that will be uploaded so we can't describe which part of the
image is under the pointer.

Nevertheless, the pointer is focusable and draggable using a keyboard,
and I'm wondering whether we should give it an ARIA role so that it at
least makes sense to screenreader users when it receives focus.

But I can't think of a role that would suit it.

Any thoughts welcome.

Cheers, Lynn

On 20/07/2018, Isabel Holdsworth < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Apologies - it's been a while :-)
>
> The position of the document isn't reported back to AT as it is
> dragged. Nor do users know what's being covered up. Realistically, the
> drag functionality is more for keyboard users who can see the screen.
>
> The dialog sits on top of the originating document, and users will
> most probably read the content in there and then close it before
> continuing, but they do have the option to leave it open and drag it
> somewhere unobtrusive such as to one side away from the main content.
>
> Thanks as always, and have a great weekend.
>
> On 14/07/2018, Birkir R. Gunnarsson < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>> I think it's fine to move focus to a document when it is displayed as
>> the result of activating a link or a button.
>> It would be bad if it is displayed as a result of changing the setting
>> of a component (selecting a radio button, checking a checkbox,
>> selecting from a dropdown etc.). You can see a lot of discussion about
>> this in the understanding WCAG SC 3.2.2 documentation.
>> You can enhance this by referencing visually hidden text on the button
>> that says "moves focus to the document display area".
>>
>> I'd suggest to use something like role="region" and
>> aria-label="document" for the container element.
>> This is what aria-roledescription could be useful for, but so far it
>> has limited support and even does more harm than good (e.g. in IE it
>> overrides the semantics inside the document, with Jaws at least).
>>
>> If you have
>> <div role="region" aria-roledescription="document panel"
>> aria-label="document name">
>> <h1>main heading</h1>
>> <p>text.</p>
>> <h2>Heading 2</h2>
>> ...
>> </div>
>>
>> an navigate to the headings inside the document, the headgs and levels
>> are no longer announced by Jaws, only the role description "document
>> panel" and the name.
>>
>> Does the document region contain a button to close or move focus back
>> to the webpage?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 7/13/18, glen walker < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>> I think what Sean was asking about was moving the dialog itself. Since
>>> the
>>> dialog can be moved by dragging it or using the move handles (nice job
>>> allowing that from the keyboard), how does the AT user know where the
>>> dialog is now?
>>>
>>> With powerpoint, which I think I mentioned in some other thread, the
>>> location of the object is announced as you move it around. You're also
>>> notified if the object moves over the top or underneath another object.
>>> Is
>>> anything like that announced when you move your dialog? Is the dialog
>>> truly "on top" of the page in the background, or does stuff reflow
>>> around
>>> it as you move it around? If it's on top, when it first appears, does
>>> anything in the background get covered up? I'm guessing as you move it,
>>> other stuff on the main page might get covered up?
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jul 13, 2018 at 7:17 AM, Isabel Holdsworth <
>>> <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> If we didn't move the focus, screenreader users would be unlikely to
>>>> know that some new content had appeared. And it may be difficult for
>>>> them to find. If they pressed the button to open the dialog, chances
>>>> are they're interested in what's in there, so why not position the
>>>> cursor so they can begin reading at the correct place?.
>>>>
>>>> The focus should rarely be moved programatically, but I think this is
>>>> one of those times when it's acceptable and even advisable.
>>>>
>>>> On 13/07/2018, <EMAIL REMOVED> < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>>> > I have one question. How does the screen reader user know where they
>>>> > are
>>>> > when you move the document within the page? What is the purpose of
>>>> > moving
>>>> > the document?
>>>> >
>>>> > -----Original Message-----
>>>> > From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf
>>>> > Of
>>>> > Isabel Holdsworth
>>>> > Sent: Friday, 13 July 2018 10:03 PM
>>>> > To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
>>>> > Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Multiple documents in a single webpage
>>>> >
>>>> > Thanks Glen - lots of good food for thought here.
>>>> >
>>>> > The dialog is draggable using the keyboard. When the whole dialog has
>>>> > focus,
>>>> > as I think it does once the button to open it has been pressed, drag
>>>> > handles
>>>> > appear and the dialog can be moved using the mouse or arrow keys.
>>>> >
>>>> > There's not a quick skip link to move to the dialog at the moment. We
>>>> move
>>>> > focus straight there as soon as it opens, and pressing Close or
>>>> > Escape
>>>> > hides
>>>> > it again and moves focus back to the opener.
>>>> >
>>>> > The dialog is at the end of the DOM, and I'm suggesting its title is
>>>> > an
>>>> H1
>>>> > heading. I could suggest a skip link back to the main document, but
>>>> > where
>>>> > in
>>>> > the document should it move the focus to? The opener perhaps, Or the
>>>> first
>>>> > H1?
>>>> >
>>>> > Thanks again, and have a great weekend.
>>>> >
>>>> > Lynn
>>>> >
>>>> > On 12/07/2018, glen walker < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>>> >> You said the dialog visually looks like a draggable non-modal
>>>> >> dialog.
>>>> >> Is it really draggable or can it be moved via the keyboard? Or is
>>>> >> it
>>>> >> really a fixed location on the screen and you're just styling it to
>>>> >> look like a moveable dialog?
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Is there a quick keyboard way to move the focus from the "regular"
>>>> >> part of the page to the dialog area? A landmark would help an AT
>>>> >> user
>>>> >> but browsers have not surfaced landmark navigation to keyboard users
>>>> >> yet so you'd need a skiplink or shortcut key (that's discoverable).
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Any time the page is updated with new info, you should notify the
>>>> >> user.
>>>> >> That's often done with aria-live regions.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> You'd also have to decide whether to move the focus. In general,
>>>> >> moving the focus after selecting a button is shied away from, but in
>>>> >> your case, if I were using a screen magnifier and could only see the
>>>> >> button and a limited region around it, I might not notice that
>>>> >> somewhere else on the screen was updated unless the focus was moved
>>>> >> to
>>>> >> it (causing my magnified viewport to move to the newly focused
>>>> >> area).
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >> On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 6:49 AM, Isabel Holdsworth <
>>>> >> <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>>> >>
>>>> >>> Hi all,
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> We have a webpage with a button that, when pressed, loads a
>>>> >>> document,
>>>> >>> spreadsheet or image into a dialog that's positioned at the bottom
>>>> >>> of
>>>> >>> the DOM. So we effectively have two items of content residing on
>>>> >>> the
>>>> >>> same webpage.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> Currently there's nothing to distinguish the new content from the
>>>> >>> existing apart from an H1 heading and a div that looks visually
>>>> >>> like
>>>> >>> a draggable non-modal dialog box.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> I'd really appreciate your thoughts on the best way to structurally
>>>> >>> present the new content so it's distinguishable as a separate
>>>> >>> entity
>>>> >>> from what was already on the page.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> Thanks as always, Lynn
>>>> >>> >>>> >>> >>>> >>> archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
>>>> >>> >>>> >>>
>>>> >> >>>> >> >>>> >> archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
>>>> >> >>>> >>
>>>> > >>>> > >>>> archives at
>>>> > http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
>>>> > >>>> >
>>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> >
>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>
>>> >>> >>> >>> >>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
>> >> >> >> >>
>