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Re: macOS Voice Over: ARIA 1.1 Combobox with Listbox Popup Examples

for

From: Weston Thayer
Date: Sep 24, 2020 7:56PM

Comboboxes are hard. The ARIA Working Group is working on 1.2 to resolve
some of these known issues
<https://github.com/w3c/aria/wiki/Resolving-ARIA-1.1-Combobox-Issues>.

<select> your poison part 2
<https://www.24a11y.com/2019/select-your-poison-part-2/> is the most
comprehensive resource I'm aware of on different combobox patterns.

In terms of expected behavior for VoiceOver with a combobox, it's first
helpful to understand that comboboxes are very rare outside the browser in
MacOS, so it's possible users will be less familiar with the role (that
said, Google's own search is a combobox, so most users will probably run
into it fairly quickly). <select> your poison part 1
<https://www.24a11y.com/2019/select-your-poison/> goes into more detail.
One native combobox example is in Finder's Go to Folder command. You can
immediately begin typing once focused with the VO cursor. You can use VO +
SPACE to display the list of suggestions (VoiceOver will announce that this
command is available if you have help text turned on), and VO +
DOWN/RIGHT/LEFT/UP ARROW to navigate the list (holding the VO key is
actually optional).

I haven't found an example for web yet that works with the VO + SPACE to
show suggestions command. I filed a Radar bug with Apple, as I suspect
VoiceOver isn't invoking the correct AX API. VO + DOWN ARROW to navigate
the list isn't likely to work in a browser (that sends the AX "move down"
command, which only seems to be supported in browser <table>). DOWN ARROW
without holding VO isn't sent to any browser except Safari. It attempts to
move the VO cursor down one line of text, and is buggy in my experience.
The feature is undocumented, but I read it was added to make selection of
paragraph text easier with VoiceOver.

My sense at this point is that replicating the native combobox is
unrealistic. But a usable experience can probably be pieced together,
perhaps with some help from live regions. I'm hoping to spend some more
time with this in the future.

On Thu, Sep 24, 2020 at 5:33 PM Michael H < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> The demos on this page:
>
>
> https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices-1.1/examples/combobox/aria1.1pattern/listbox-combo.html
>
> Do not seem to function well when using Voice Over on macOS 10.15.6
> using Sarari 14.0.
>
> Testing Example 1:
>
> 1. When you land on the combobox, you must press VO keys (CONTROL +
> OPTION) + SHIFT + DOWN ARROW to interact with it.
>
> 2. Inside combobox: In order to enter keywords, you have to press VO
> keys and LEFT ARROW to go back and find the search field.
>
> 3. Once you have typed your keywords, you have to un-interact with the
> search field by using VO keys + SHIFT + UP ARROW;
>
> 4. To find the listbox results, you then have to press the VO KEY + RIGHT
> ARROW
>
> 5. To interact with the listbox results, you have to press the VO keys
> + SHIFT + DOWN ARROW.
>
> 6. When you are in the listbox results and you choose an item using VO
> keys + SPACE the chosen populates search box
>
> 7. You can then delete the chosen text by hitting the delete key.
>
> NOTES:
>
> 1. Once you are interacting with the combobox, you would expect to be
> able to enter keywords (right away) and begin interacting with the
> search input.
>
> 2. When un-interacting the search field, sometimes, it takes you way
> far away from the search field on the page. Not sure why/how/when this
> happens.
>
> 3. After a choice from the listbox is chosen, they are taken back to
> the search field, but there is nothing letting them know they are back
> in the search field at the end of the chosen text (could this be fixed
> with aria-live?)
>
> CRITICAL QUESTIONS:
>
> 1. Is this the intended behavior for Voice Over on a macOS for
> Combobox with Listbox Popup?
>
> 2. IMHO, at least for macOS Voice Over, this w3.org example pretty
> much sucks. Can anyone point me towards an example that works better?
> > > > >