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Re: VoiceOver and menus

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From: Mark Magennis
Date: Aug 25, 2022 5:26AM

I have a question about how MacOS/VoiceOver works within menus. Or really a=
ny screen reader which is not in an application mode with any widget that h=
as its own keyboard operations. Suppose you have an ARIA menu. When it open=
s you use the up/down arrow keys to navigate between options. In JAWS and N=
VDA, you will be in application/forms mode (by default) so you can't use th=
e up/down arrow keys for the browse command "read next element" unless you =
exit application mode. In VoiceOver you are never in an application mode so=
the VO+Right Arrow "read next element" command is always available. My que=
stion is, if you issue the "read next element" command, what should logical=
ly happen? Should it move the selection within the menu? Should it close th=
e menu and read the next element after the menu? Something else?

I've tried this in menus within the application I'm working on. In one case=
it reads the next element after the menu but leaves the menu open and in a=
nother case it activates the currently selected menu option, which is obvio=
usly wrong.

If it should close the menu and move on to the next element, how can this b=
e done? Presumably you'd need an event listener for the "read next element"=
keypress, in which case logically you'd need event listeners for every oth=
er possible browse action. That's obviously not a sensible approach.

Anything insightful anyone can say about this would be welcome.

Thanks,
Mark

Mark Magennis (he/him)
Senior Accessibility Specialist
Skillsoft | mobile: +353 87 60 60 162
[cid:image001.jpg@01D8B87D.F7272470]<http://www.skillsoft.com/>;