USWDS - Banner: Some screen reader setups may not announce the full banner

[jaclinec]

Summary

It's possible for some screen readers to only announce "Here's how you know" instead of the entire banner copy, and this lack of context could be confusing to blind users. It's recommended that we consider solutions to make the banner announcement more useful for screen reader users in forms mode, such as making more of the text part of the interactive button since forms mode only takes users to interactive elements.

Observations

Upon interacting with the banner component, the JAWS screen read a blind participant was using only announced "Here's how you know" instead of the entire banner copy. We believe they were in "forms mode." It did not hinder the participant or confuse them at all, but it's reasonable to assume this could confuse others.

we were unable to replicate this issue internally, however.

Affected user groups

• JAWS 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

Consider solutions that would guarantee the entire banner is announced by screen readers in a multitude of tech setups and in JAWS forms mode.

[mejiaj]

@amycole501 or @alex-hull could you please try to reproduce and add a comment to this issue?

[amycole501]

Both @alex-hull and I have tested this and only Alex could somewhat reproduce it but not consistently. We think this issue may be intermittent and dependent on the person's AT settings and how they navigate using their screen reader. At this time we think no coding improvements are necessary however we may want to add guidance or a "heads up" warning on the page noting that some AT users may encounter confusion when landing in the banner.