We updated Kendo UI for JQuery from v2021.2.511 to v2022.1.325 and we observed that certain screen reader functions were broken.
The following issues were observed when screen reader is activated on any KendoMultiSelect control:
a. The selected item and tag are not being announced. The selected item and the tag were announced by narrator before the update.
b. The number of available suggestions is not announced. This was announced before the update.
c. When scan mode is activated, users cannot navigate the list items using the up/down arrow keys.
d. When a user enters a search string that is not in the datasource, narrator does not announce that. Before the update, narrator would announce "Selection contains zero items".
For other controls like checkboxes, narrator does not announce the name or label of the controls when in focus.
Is there a different attribute other than aria-label that we need defined on these controls to get screen readers to announce them?
I'd appreciate any help to get these issues fixed.
Thanks!
OS: Windows 11
Browser: Edge Chromium.
Kendo UI version: v2022.1.325
Screen Reader: Windows Narrator
Hi Ola,
First of all, please, note that version 2022.1.325 of Kendo UI for jQuery is not an official release, but an internal build. Having that said, I would strongly recommend you use version 2022.1.412, which is the latest official.
I have tested the MultiSelect Basic usage demo in Edge with Narrator on Windows 10. I have also created the following Dojo sample, which replicates the above demo implementation but uses version 2021.2.511 of Kendo UI for jQuery. Here are my observations:
a. Upon focusing the first MultiSelect on the page (the one with selected items), Narrator announces "required edit" and then reads the values of the two selected items.
b. Both the Dojo and the official demo do not announce the number of available items in the MultiSelect popup list. Please, keep in mind that such information would not be available in the component while its popup is closed (it is not visible and also unavailable for the assistive technologies).
c. The Scan mode of the Narrator handles itself the up/down arrow keys navigation. It does not pass the key events to the Kendo widget, so that we can handle those events.
d. In both the current and the previous version the result of typing text not present in the DS would be "supports multiple selection, contains 0 items"
As per the CheckBox question, I have tested the CheckBox Basic usage demo:
Demo of core features in jQuery CheckBox widget | Kendo UI for jQuery (telerik.com)
Where Narrator properly announces the label of the focused CheckBox.
Hi Veselin,
Thank you for looking into this.
Your observations on version 2021.2.511 are consistent with my experiences with that version. Yes, with version 2022.1.325 the narrator does not announce the number of available items in the list while the popup is closed, but it does announce it when the popup is opened.
I will attempt to upgrade to 2022.1.412 as you recommended and let you know if those functionalities are restored. At the minimum, we'd expect the supported accessibilities features on 2021.2.511 to still be in place in 2022.1.412.
Hi Veselin,
I upgraded to Kendo UI for JQuery version 2022.1.412 as you recommended but unfortunately that did not help with the issues I mentioned earlier.
I also observed narrator on scan mode saying "item has no primary action" on a kendo button that should display a popup when clicked.
Please how do you advise fixing this?
Thanks
Hi Ola,
I have tested again everything described on the MultiSelect Basic usage demo on Windows 11 in Edge with Narrator. I have observed the same results as described in my previous post. Therefore, I would like to ask you to prepare and send us a small isolated runnable Dojo sample, where the Narrator's result is different.
I have also tested a Button scenario opening Window here:
https://runner.telerik.io/fullscreen/OMAbICEq/4
Upon focusing the Button Narrator properly announces its text content. May I also ask you to provide an example for this scenario, where "Item has no primary action" is announced?