USWDS - Memorable date: Dropdown options containing month name and number can be confusing for screen reader users.

[jaclinec]

Summary

Visually impaired users of screen readers are confused by the announcement of the options in the memorable date dropdown because they include a number and a month (i.e. "01 - January"). They sometimes confuse it to mean a month and day (i.e. "January 1st"). It may better meet expectations and lessen confusion to list only the month name without the number.

Observations

A blind participant tried to choose the month in the memorable date dropdown during usability testing and heard it announce "01 - January" and thought it meant 'January 1st.' He also commented that that was not something he expected and that it should only list the month names with no numbers.

Affected user groups

• Screen reader users

Research method

Usability testing with 8 participants with disabilities:

• 5 visually impaired (3 blind, 2 low vision/legally blind (1 with nystagmus))
• 1 motor impairment
• 1 ADHD
• 1 anxiety and depression

Screen reader software participants used: JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver

[Link to public findings report forthcoming...here is the internal Zebra findings report] 🔒

Next steps

• Remove the numbers from the options and only display the month names. Note: Only do this if it is possible to allow users to still type a name OR a number in the combo box to search for the month (see USWDS - Memorable date: Dropdown search functionality doesn't meet some users' expectations. #5910 ), since it is important to allow users to search by either the name or the number of the month based on zebra usability testing results.