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Thread: Proof One Is Not A Spammer
Number of posts in this thread: 3 (In chronological order)
From: David Russell
Date: Tue, Oct 31 2023 5:14PM
Subject: Proof One Is Not A Spammer
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Hello WebAIM member,
In the past, I have been a participating member of the online group,
librarything.com.
Now, signing in, which I have not done for some time, comes with the
step to prove one isn't a spammer. However, instead of checkmarks, one
is given a list of titles which they have to note or accept as proof
they're not a spammer.
I tried numerous times but was denied for evidently not selecting all
the right titles.
I assumed pressing the enter key would register my answer.
Is there a way to get around this using a keyboard and screen reader only?
Thanks for the help in advance.
--
David C. Russell, Author
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
From: Max Starkenburg
Date: Tue, Oct 31 2023 9:41PM
Subject: Re: Proof One Is Not A Spammer
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I used to frequent LibraryThing as well (not a ton these days), so logged
in to take a peek at how their (rather unique) CAPTCHA works to see if I
could answer that question. (For others' benefit: the CAPTCHA consists of 8
book covers, from which one needs to select those that are related to food
or cooking, in order to complete sign-in.)
Looks like they're a series of <input type="checkbox"> and <label> pairs,
with the label surrounding the book cover images. But the inputs are set to
display:none, and although the labels have tabindex="0" (making them
focusable), and although mouse-clicking a label correctly associated with a
input will check it, I don't think the same is true for keyboard events (at
least not the 2 browsers I checked).
Seems like this might could be remedied by making the checkbox inputs
visually hidden instead fully hidden, or alternatively by adding a custom
JS event handler on the labels, if they're going to leave those as the
visible and focusable element. Then again, the code is showing other funny
business like removing outline styling from label:focus and input:focus
(despite some prominent animated :hover styling). And I learned never to
hold my breath when requesting site changes there in the past.
I was going to file an issue in their Bug Collector or Recommended Site
Improvement groups, but then found there was already a pretty similar issue
in Bug Collectors. It was closed after one of the employees found he was
still able to successfully use NVDA in that interface, and sure enough,
when I installed NVDA and used it on that page with Firefox, I could use
Space or Enter to select items. But then I tried on Safari & VoiceOver, and
no dice (though I could after un-hiding the inputs via the browser
Inspector). I'll go ahead and try to reopen that bug with these findings
and suggestions.
Max
--
Maxwell M. Starkenburg
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
On Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 7:14â¯PM David Russell < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:
> Hello WebAIM member,
>
> In the past, I have been a participating member of the online group,
> librarything.com.
> Now, signing in, which I have not done for some time, comes with the
> step to prove one isn't a spammer. However, instead of checkmarks, one
> is given a list of titles which they have to note or accept as proof
> they're not a spammer.
> I tried numerous times but was denied for evidently not selecting all
> the right titles.
>
> I assumed pressing the enter key would register my answer.
>
> Is there a way to get around this using a keyboard and screen reader only?
>
> Thanks for the help in advance.
>
> --
> David C. Russell, Author
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> > > > >
From: Max Starkenburg
Date: Wed, Nov 01 2023 4:41PM
Subject: Re: Proof One Is Not A Spammer
← Previous message | No next message
Hi David et al.,
To my pleasant surprise, it seems like they already took my code-change
recommendation into account, and have changed the checkbox inputs to be
visually hidden (and also removed the now-unnecessary tabindex). I'm not
sure what browser and screen reader combination you use, but I re-tested in
Safari+VoiceOver, and was able to successfully use the interface with just
the keyboard, unlike last night. Hoping the changes mean you can now fully
log in there as well.
Max
--
Maxwell M. Starkenburg
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
On Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 11:41â¯PM Max Starkenburg < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:
> I used to frequent LibraryThing as well (not a ton these days), so logged
> in to take a peek at how their (rather unique) CAPTCHA works to see if I
> could answer that question. (For others' benefit: the CAPTCHA consists of 8
> book covers, from which one needs to select those that are related to food
> or cooking, in order to complete sign-in.)
>
> Looks like they're a series of <input type="checkbox"> and <label> pairs,
> with the label surrounding the book cover images. But the inputs are set to
> display:none, and although the labels have tabindex="0" (making them
> focusable), and although mouse-clicking a label correctly associated with a
> input will check it, I don't think the same is true for keyboard events (at
> least not the 2 browsers I checked).
>
> Seems like this might could be remedied by making the checkbox inputs
> visually hidden instead fully hidden, or alternatively by adding a custom
> JS event handler on the labels, if they're going to leave those as the
> visible and focusable element. Then again, the code is showing other funny
> business like removing outline styling from label:focus and input:focus
> (despite some prominent animated :hover styling). And I learned never to
> hold my breath when requesting site changes there in the past.
>
> I was going to file an issue in their Bug Collector or Recommended Site
> Improvement groups, but then found there was already a pretty similar issue
> in Bug Collectors. It was closed after one of the employees found he was
> still able to successfully use NVDA in that interface, and sure enough,
> when I installed NVDA and used it on that page with Firefox, I could use
> Space or Enter to select items. But then I tried on Safari & VoiceOver, and
> no dice (though I could after un-hiding the inputs via the browser
> Inspector). I'll go ahead and try to reopen that bug with these findings
> and suggestions.
>
> Max
> --
> Maxwell M. Starkenburg
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 7:14â¯PM David Russell < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> wrote:
>
>> Hello WebAIM member,
>>
>> In the past, I have been a participating member of the online group,
>> librarything.com.
>> Now, signing in, which I have not done for some time, comes with the
>> step to prove one isn't a spammer. However, instead of checkmarks, one
>> is given a list of titles which they have to note or accept as proof
>> they're not a spammer.
>> I tried numerous times but was denied for evidently not selecting all
>> the right titles.
>>
>> I assumed pressing the enter key would register my answer.
>>
>> Is there a way to get around this using a keyboard and screen reader only?
>>
>> Thanks for the help in advance.
>>
>> --
>> David C. Russell, Author
>> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>> >> >> >> >>
>