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Re: A question about chrome devTool undock function for screen reader user

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From: Steve Green
Date: Feb 11, 2019 9:39PM

I have spent about half an hour trying to find a way to do it and I don't think it is possible. By tabbing around the dev tools you will probably have found the Customise and Control Dev Tools button. This opens a dropdown menu that contains the controls for undocking the dev tools panel.

If you operate the button, JAWS will go into forms mode and say "Menu, to navigate press up or down arrow". The virtual focus is actually on the docking controls but you can't interact with them in forms mode. If you use the up and down arrow keys, JAWS navigates between all the other options in the menu except the docking controls.

The following steps will allow you to identify where the docking controls are:

1. Immediately after opening the dropdown menu, press the plus key on the NumPad to exit forms mode and leave the dropdown menu open. Don't press the Escape key to exit forms mode because this closes the dropdown menu.
2. Press the down arrow key. JAWS will announce the Show Console Drawer option, which is the second one in the list.
3. Press the up arrow key. JAWS will announce the four docking controls as a single string. It actually says "Dock side undock into separate window dock to left dock to bottom doc to right".

Now that you know where the docking controls are, you would expect to be able to use the JAWS cursor to find and operate them. However, I cannot find a way to do that. After pressing the minus key on the NumPad to change to the JAWS cursor, I can use the arrow keys to move the cursor to almost anywhere in the dev tools except where the docking controls are.

It looks like you are going to need sighted help to do this. The good news is that the setting is persistent so you will only need help once on each machine you use.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd