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Sortable table columns

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From: Alan Zaitchik
Date: Aug 5, 2020 4:41PM

I need to put a button inside certain column headers of a table to support sorting the table onnthose columns. The trouble is that JAWS and NVDA and VoiceOver all read out the text of the sort button when they read out the rest of the column header— for every blasted data cell in the column, as one navigates across a row ! It's unbearably verbose. I want to hear the button text when moving into the header cell itself, which is why I cannot just hide it from screen readers, but not across dats cells.
I've tried aria labeling but it's gives the same results as button text. Aria-described by sort of worked with VO but not with JAWS or NVDA.
I really don't want to write focus event handlers to detect focus location and toggle what's read out by screen readers and what's not.
Anyone out there with a brilliant suggestion?
Thx!
A