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Thread: JAWS adds tabindex=-1

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From: MEJ - Beth Sullivan
Date: Thu, Apr 30 2015 1:46PM
Subject: JAWS adds tabindex=-1
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Hello,

does anyone know why tabindex=-1 is added to links sometimes when JAWS is
running?

Thank you,

Beth

From: Paul J. Adam
Date: Thu, Apr 30 2015 2:01PM
Subject: Re: JAWS adds tabindex=-1
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I've see JAWS do that on elements it considers "duplicate" like maybe an image link right above a text link or some other repeating link type problem. I've seen this cause additional accessibility problems rather than fix a problem of repetition.

It only happened with IE though. I'm not aware of any other screen readers that manipulate the DOM like this?


Paul J. Adam
Accessibility Evangelist
www.deque.com <http://www.deque.com/>;
> On Apr 30, 2015, at 2:46 PM, MEJ - Beth Sullivan < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> does anyone know why tabindex=-1 is added to links sometimes when JAWS is
> running?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Beth
> > > >

From: Jonathan Avila
Date: Thu, Apr 30 2015 2:26PM
Subject: Re: JAWS adds tabindex=-1
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There is indeed a JAWS option for filter duplicate links that we recommend to turn off. I'm not sure specifically what it does to the page but this may it.

I've also seen pages adapt their code such as add titles to form fields when the code detects a keyboard user and assumes a screen reader when tab is used for navigation.


Jonathan
Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 30, 2015, at 4:02 PM, Paul J. Adam < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> I've see JAWS do that on elements it considers "duplicate" like maybe an image link right above a text link or some other repeating link type problem. I've seen this cause additional accessibility problems rather than fix a problem of repetition.
>
> It only happened with IE though. I'm not aware of any other screen readers that manipulate the DOM like this?
>
>
> Paul J. Adam
> Accessibility Evangelist
> www.deque.com <http://www.deque.com/>;
>> On Apr 30, 2015, at 2:46 PM, MEJ - Beth Sullivan < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> does anyone know why tabindex=-1 is added to links sometimes when JAWS is
>> running?
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Beth
>> >> >> >> >
> > > >

From: Moore,Michael (DARS)
Date: Fri, May 01 2015 10:36AM
Subject: Re: JAWS adds tabindex=-1
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JAWS does not change the code. There are options to filter duplicate links - thus is JAWS sees "Home" "Home" it will only announce the link once. You can also tell JAWS to skip repeated navigation - this will ignore a common nav bar at the top of the page. This one is a bit less reliable and some users will have a hard time finding search. All of this is totally under control of the user. There is a FLASH based screen reader detection script that I have seen used to trigger dynamic changes in the code - this is usually pretty dangerous and often causes more trouble than it solves especially since the detection does not work for all screen readers. A final option that I have seen (SharePoint and PeopleSoft) is a user selected flag that turns on "Accessibility" options. This also results in dynamic changes to the code. Best practice remains to make the code accessible from the beginning rather than bolt on accessibility later.

Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator,
Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
(512) 424-4159 (Office)
(512) 574-0091 (Cell)

From: Paul J. Adam
Date: Fri, May 01 2015 10:39AM
Subject: Re: JAWS adds tabindex=-1
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Hey Mike, JAWS was actually inserting the tabindex=-1 attribute/value into the DOM in IE, you have to us IE dev tools to see it. At least that was the case when I encountered this bug a year back or so.


Paul J. Adam
Accessibility Evangelist
www.deque.com <http://www.deque.com/>;
> On May 1, 2015, at 11:36 AM, Moore,Michael (DARS) < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> JAWS does not change the code. There are options to filter duplicate links - thus is JAWS sees "Home" "Home" it will only announce the link once. You can also tell JAWS to skip repeated navigation - this will ignore a common nav bar at the top of the page. This one is a bit less reliable and some users will have a hard time finding search. All of this is totally under control of the user. There is a FLASH based screen reader detection script that I have seen used to trigger dynamic changes in the code - this is usually pretty dangerous and often causes more trouble than it solves especially since the detection does not work for all screen readers. A final option that I have seen (SharePoint and PeopleSoft) is a user selected flag that turns on "Accessibility" options. This also results in dynamic changes to the code. Best practice remains to make the code accessible from the beginning rather than bolt on accessibility later.
>
> Mike Moore
> Accessibility Coordinator,
> Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
> (512) 424-4159 (Office)
> (512) 574-0091 (Cell)
>
>

From: David Farough
Date: Fri, May 01 2015 11:19AM
Subject: Re: JAWS adds tabindex=-1
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I have not looked to see if anything has been added to the page in this
case, but I have noticed additional items when tabbing through my banks
bill payment options using Jaws 16 that do not appear with version 15.
It did not occur to me that Jaws might add something to the DOM.

David Farough
(819) 420-8418


>>> "Moore,Michael (DARS)" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > 12:36 PM
Friday, May 01, 2015 >>>
JAWS does not change the code. There are options to filter duplicate
links - thus is JAWS sees "Home" "Home" it will only announce the link
once. You can also tell JAWS to skip repeated navigation - this will
ignore a common nav bar at the top of the page. This one is a bit less
reliable and some users will have a hard time finding search. All of
this is totally under control of the user. There is a FLASH based screen
reader detection script that I have seen used to trigger dynamic changes
in the code - this is usually pretty dangerous and often causes more
trouble than it solves especially since the detection does not work for
all screen readers. A final option that I have seen (SharePoint and
PeopleSoft) is a user selected flag that turns on "Accessibility"
options. This also results in dynamic changes to the code. Best practice
remains to make the code accessible from the beginning rather than bolt
on accessibility later.

Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator,
Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
(512) 424-4159 (Office)
(512) 574-0091 (Cell)