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Re: Clickable maps

for

From: glen walker
Date: Mar 31, 2023 10:29AM

Just to toss out another idea (not necessarily a good one), but in a way
the map is kind of a tab control. The counties are the tabs and the
statistics are the tab panels, although in your case you sort of have one
tab panel and you just update its contents. It's not quite an exact
metaphor but really close. When you switch tabs in a tab control, the new
tab panel contents are not typically announced, although they could be.
The fact that a user can hear "tab, selected 1 of 10" gives them a clue as
to what to expect when they select a tab. They know there's new content by
selecting a tab and hopefully the contents of that tab panel are easy to
navigate to.

It's fine to use a live region. Just remember that it's only the text of
the live region that's announced. None of the structural roles are
announced. So if you have headings, tables, lists, etc in a live region,
they'll all be announced as if they have role="presentation". So you might
want to limit what gets announced. Having a separate hidden live region
with limited text, as you suggested, is certainly one way. Or, if you can
mark just part of your statistical area as live, that might work too.
Structural elements in the live region or in the statistical area will make
it easier for screen reader users to navigate to the contents.