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Re: How to give screen reader instructions for a grid

for

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Mar 4, 2024 10:36AM

If the keyboard navigation follows that of a standard grid (i.e. arrow
keys navigate between cells) you don't need much in the way of extra
instructions.
There are various practices you need to support for this to be natural:
* If the gridcell has a focusable control inside it, focus should go
directly to that control when user navigates to the cell with the
arrow keys, it should not go on the cell.
However, If the cell does not have a focusable descendants, then focus
should go on the cell
If the cell has multiple focusable elements inside it you are going to
hvae a lot of keyboard and screen reader confusion, can users arrow or
tab between those etc. In this scenario you need to either change the
decide or create a menu button that users have to activate to see the
interactive options (see the example grids for data grid in the ARIA
Authoring Practices, test the one where you can assign a new category
and observe how that works)
One ting specific to AG Grid, if authors decide to pin one of the
columns in the grid the grid becomes inaccessible, there must be an
option to unpin all columns (if pinned), at least until AG Grid gets
its act together and fixes this.

I have used a combination of "how to use this grid" screen reader only
section before the grid, starting with an h3 heading and
aria-describedby on the grid control saying (for screen reader
instructions navigate to previous h3 heaing). It isn't elegant, it
does not always work but it is about as good as we can make it
If you page has a skip link you could attach a tooltip to that link
saying (if you want keyboard and screen reader instructions for a grid
go to x" because only screen reader and keyboard users will interact
with the skip link.

aG Grid is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to accessibility, but if
you stick to the principles of keeping one data and one interactive
control in each cell, then you end up with a mostly accessible
experience.



On 3/4/24, Mark Magennis < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> I appreciate you passing on your buddy's suggestions Dean. They're all
> sensible but I've already considered or tried all of them out and found that
> they either don't work or they raise other issues. They're not trash
> though.
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
> > From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > on behalf of
> <EMAIL REMOVED> < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Sent: Monday 4 March 2024 16:56
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [WebAIM] How to give screen reader instructions for
> a grid
>
> [You don't often get email from <EMAIL REMOVED> . Learn why this is
> important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification ]
>
> Hey Mark,
> I was interested in this issue, but I didn't have the answer. So, I asked my
> buddy Chat, and here is what he said:
> [It sounds like you're facing a challenge with making keyboard navigation
> instructions accessible to screen reader users in your AG Grid setup. Here
> are a few suggestions you could try to improve accessibility:
>
> 1. Use aria-describedby with an ID reference: Instead of using aria-label
> directly on the <div role="grid">, try using aria-describedby with a
> reference to an element containing the instructions. This can help screen
> readers associate the instructions with the grid.
> htmlCopy code
> <div role="grid" aria-describedby="grid-instructions"> <!-- Grid content -->
> </div><div id="grid-instructions" class="visually-hidden"> Keyboard
> navigation instructions: Use arrow keys to navigate rows and columns.
> </div>
> In this example, visually-hidden class is used to hide the instructions
> visually but keep them accessible to screen readers.
>
> 1. Ensure focusability of the grid: Make sure that the grid container is
> focusable, so screen readers can reach it easily. You may need to set
> tabindex="0" on the grid container if it's not already focusable.
> 2. Provide keyboard navigation instructions in other accessible ways:
> Consider providing keyboard navigation instructions outside of the grid as
> well, such as in a prominent location on the page or in a help section. This
> ensures that users can access the instructions regardless of how they
> navigate to the grid.
> 3. Test with different screen readers: While you mentioned that most
> users will likely use JAWS, it's still a good idea to test with other screen
> readers like NVDA or VoiceOver to ensure compatibility across different
> assistive technologies.
> 4. Check for JavaScript focus management: Ensure that JavaScript event
> handlers or focus management within the grid aren't interfering with screen
> reader navigation.
> 5. Consider contacting the AG Grid support: If the issue persists, you
> might want to reach out to AG Grid support for assistance. They may have
> specific recommendations or solutions tailored to their grid component.
> By combining these techniques, you can hopefully improve the accessibility
> of keyboard navigation instructions for screen reader users in your AG Grid
> implementation.]
> Please let me know if this helps, or if it is trash😊
> Dino
>
> Dean Vasile
>
>
> 617-799-1162
>
> On Mar 4, 2024, at 11:06 AM, Mark Magennis < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> wrote:
>
> Hello all, I need some help. I have a page that's using AG Grid for a data
> table (non-negotiable), so it's coded as <div role="grid"> and has its own
> keyboard navigation. I want to tell screen reader users what the keyboard
> navigation is, so I added instructions in an aria-label on the <div
> role="grid">. Problem is, I suspect most users will probably arrow into the
> grid and the aria-label is only read by JAWS when you Tab into the grid, not
> when you arrow into it. Most of the screen reader users will be using JAWS.
> I've tried adding the aria-label to other elements within the grid, I've
> tried using aria-labelledby and aria-describedby instead of aria-label, but
> I can't get JAWS to read the instructions. I've tried duplicating the
> instructions in a hidden text span before the grid but it proves quite
> difficult to give instructions that will work from that point. Any ideas on
> other possible solutions?
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
>
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