Accessibility: Screenreader in UI for ASP.NET Core General Discussions

Jan

49 posts

Member since:
Apr 2017

Posted 14 Jun 2017 Link to this post

Hello,

the accessibility support is really important for our projects. The keyboard support of your widgets is overall ok, but the screenreader support is horrible. I tested with Windows 10 + Edge + JAWS Screenreader (v18) (Our customers are bound to the JAWS software).

I.e. spreadsheet: change the active cell with arrows keys -> the screenreaders doesnt read anything.

I.e. multiselect -> focus the input and the screenreader doesnt read the selected items. Also when I open the dropdown and change the selection, it reads nothing.

This are just two examples and Im sure there are similar problems in the other widgets. It would be great if you would make the widgets screenreader-ready in the future.

Can you confirm these problems?

Veselin Tsvetanov

Admin

1230 posts

Posted 19 Jun 2017 Link to this post

Hi Jan,

Concerning the observed issues With the Spreadsheet widget, keep in mind, that its accessibility support is still under development. We plan to have the widget fully WCAG 2.0 and Section 508 compliant within one of the very next releases of the suite.

Concerning the MultiSelect and the other widgets in the suite, bear in mind, that their implementation and structure is based on the WCAG 2.0 specification and WAI-ARIA specifications. The MultiSelect covers both the Level AAA WCAG 2.0 standard and the Section 508 requirements.

On the other hand, screen-readers should also follow the same specifications in order to properly interpret the components / pages (WAI-ARIA attributes), that are implemented following those specifications. Therefore, it is a browser-screen-reader relation that accomplishes the screen reading functionality.

Keep in mind that in the JAWS official documentation there is a note, that "...Microsoft recommends that users of assistive technology avoid the new default Edge browser at this time...".

Regards,
Veselin Tsvetanov
Progress Telerik

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Jan

49 posts

Member since:
Apr 2017

Posted 22 Jun 2017 Link to this post

Could you please open this demo http://demos.telerik.com/aspnet-core/multiselect/index with any browser and then start the windows voiceoutput (I can open it with the shortcut Windows + Enter in Windows 10) or another voice output software (same problem here with JAWS). Now focus the multiselect and tell me how a blind person can recognize the currently selected values. And when he open the dropdown, how can he recognize a "marked" item that is selected?

Veselin Tsvetanov

Admin

1230 posts

Posted 26 Jun 2017 Link to this post

Hi Jan,

We have further investigated the MultiSelect issues described and we have managed to narrow down the cause for the observed. It is the lack of some of the required WAI-ARIA attributes, that would allow the assistive technologies to properly identify the MultiSelect widget and its options.

Therefore, we have included this bug in our backlog and I have created a GitHub issue, where its status could be tracked. As a small token of gratitude for reporting this problem to us, I have updated your Telerik points.

Also, if you notice in future similar issues with other (or the same) widgets, please, let us know, so we will be able to investigate each case in detail, in order to provide the most appropriate WAI-ARIA support within the suite.

Regards,
Veselin Tsvetanov
Progress Telerik

Try our brand new, jQuery-free Angular 2 components built from ground-up which deliver the business app essential building blocks - a grid component, data visualization (charts) and form elements.