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Thread: Usability of ARIA combobox
Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)
From: Catt, James
Date: Tue, Nov 27 2018 1:34PM
Subject: Usability of ARIA combobox
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Hi all, I'm looking for some input/opinions from regular screen reader users on the usability of ARIA combobox patterns.
When following the ARIA combobox authoring practices (https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices-1.1/#combobox), it seems as though the information read out by JAWS & NVDA when focusing the text input isn't that helpful. NVDA announces that it's a combobox, but doesn't provide any further info. JAWS adds that the arrow keys can be used to navigate the list, and may announce the expanded state of the listbox depending on the implementation. Generally speaking, though, by default there doesn't seem to be much info read out to inform the user that there's a list of suggestions available-it seems like they would have to be familiar with the design pattern and just guess that it's there.
A better implementation seems to the be one used on expedia.ca - they use a live region to announce the number of results and tell the user that they can use the arrow keys to navigate.
To regular SR users: do you encounter/use comboboxes often in the wild? Do you find they're useful and/or intuitive?
Thanks in advance!
James Catt
Inclusive Design Consultant, OLB | CIBC Digital
From: Bryan Garaventa
Date: Tue, Nov 27 2018 2:11PM
Subject: Re: Usability of ARIA combobox
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Hello,
At present the combobox 1.1 design pattern is not sufficiently supported by browsers and ATs to be usable on public facing websites. People should not be using that widget pattern as a guide for desirable screen reader behavior until it is. Only the ARIA 1.0 combobox design pattern is widely supported enough to be used on public sites.
This is fully documented plus relevant instructions to implement at
https://www.levelaccess.com/differences-aria-1-0-1-1-changes-rolecombobox/
Best wishes,
Bryan
Bryan Garaventa
Principle Accessibility Architect
Level Access, Inc.
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
415.624.2709 (o)
www.LevelAccess.com
From: Mallory
Date: Tue, Nov 27 2018 11:42PM
Subject: Re: Usability of ARIA combobox
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Gerard Cohen ran into probably everything with comboboxes (though his don't have a text field so are not technically complete comboboxes): https://technica11y.org/making-custom-selects-accessible
You might find some interesting bits in this video (or read the transcript after the video).
cheers,
Mallory
On Tue, Nov 27, 2018, at 9:34 PM, Catt, James wrote:
> Hi all, I'm looking for some input/opinions from regular screen reader
> users on the usability of ARIA combobox patterns.
>
> When following the ARIA combobox authoring practices
> (https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices-1.1/#combobox), it seems as
> though the information read out by JAWS & NVDA when focusing the text
> input isn't that helpful. NVDA announces that it's a combobox, but
> doesn't provide any further info. JAWS adds that the arrow keys can be
> used to navigate the list, and may announce the expanded state of the
> listbox depending on the implementation. Generally speaking, though, by
> default there doesn't seem to be much info read out to inform the user
> that there's a list of suggestions available-it seems like they would
> have to be familiar with the design pattern and just guess that it's
> there.
>
> A better implementation seems to the be one used on expedia.ca - they
> use a live region to announce the number of results and tell the user
> that they can use the arrow keys to navigate.
>
> To regular SR users: do you encounter/use comboboxes often in the wild?
> Do you find they're useful and/or intuitive?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> James Catt
> Inclusive Design Consultant, OLB | CIBC Digital
>
> > > >
From: Sean Murphy
Date: Wed, Nov 28 2018 3:36AM
Subject: Re: Usability of ARIA combobox
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As I am a screen reader user. I am not a fan of aria-live being used. To much information when it is not required.
Deque, vision Australia Level access and some other sites have nice combo boxes. The only problem I have come across combo boxes is that the original value in the edit field is not retain if you press escape to cancel the selection of items.
I am coming from a user point of view, not a coding or accessibility issue.
Sean
My experience is the part
> On 28 Nov 2018, at 7:34 am, Catt, James < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> Hi all, I'm looking for some input/opinions from regular screen reader users on the usability of ARIA combobox patterns.
>
> When following the ARIA combobox authoring practices (https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices-1.1/#combobox), it seems as though the information read out by JAWS & NVDA when focusing the text input isn't that helpful. NVDA announces that it's a combobox, but doesn't provide any further info. JAWS adds that the arrow keys can be used to navigate the list, and may announce the expanded state of the listbox depending on the implementation. Generally speaking, though, by default there doesn't seem to be much info read out to inform the user that there's a list of suggestions available-it seems like they would have to be familiar with the design pattern and just guess that it's there.
>
> A better implementation seems to the be one used on expedia.ca - they use a live region to announce the number of results and tell the user that they can use the arrow keys to navigate.
>
> To regular SR users: do you encounter/use comboboxes often in the wild? Do you find they're useful and/or intuitive?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> James Catt
> Inclusive Design Consultant, OLB | CIBC Digital
>
> > > >
From: Brandon Keith Biggs
Date: Wed, Nov 28 2018 4:12AM
Subject: Re: Usability of ARIA combobox
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Hello,
If you really need to use Aria for a combobox rather than the datalist HTML
element, then I would follow the patterns from AccDC:
http://whatsock.com/tsg/Coding%20Arena/ARIA%20Comboboxes/ARIA%20Comboboxes%20(Native%20Inputs,%20Editable%20and%20Readonly)/demo.htm
and the instructions in the technical style guide for Aria Combobox:
http://whatsock.com/tsg/
Thanks,
Brandon Keith Biggs <http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/>;
On Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 12:34 PM Catt, James < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Hi all, I'm looking for some input/opinions from regular screen reader
> users on the usability of ARIA combobox patterns.
>
> When following the ARIA combobox authoring practices (
> https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices-1.1/#combobox), it seems as
> though the information read out by JAWS & NVDA when focusing the text input
> isn't that helpful. NVDA announces that it's a combobox, but doesn't
> provide any further info. JAWS adds that the arrow keys can be used to
> navigate the list, and may announce the expanded state of the listbox
> depending on the implementation. Generally speaking, though, by default
> there doesn't seem to be much info read out to inform the user that there's
> a list of suggestions available-it seems like they would have to be
> familiar with the design pattern and just guess that it's there.
>
> A better implementation seems to the be one used on expedia.ca - they use
> a live region to announce the number of results and tell the user that they
> can use the arrow keys to navigate.
>
> To regular SR users: do you encounter/use comboboxes often in the wild? Do
> you find they're useful and/or intuitive?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> James Catt
> Inclusive Design Consultant, OLB | CIBC Digital
>
> > > > >
From: Catt, James
Date: Fri, Dec 14 2018 11:44AM
Subject: Re: Usability of ARIA combobox
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Thanks to everyone for their input, it was very helpful!
-James