Sight-disabilty backend issues – request for help

  • Hello

    I have been working on a site for a sight-disabled person and they would be helped if there were navigation shortcuts available. They are fully dependent upon a screen reader for navigation.

    I know there are a number of shortcuts in the visual editor which are helpful, but there are particular problems with general navigation.

    For example:

    • Screen reader progressively works through menu items and sub-menu items to get where you need to go. To get to Pages, it reads the Admin bar menus and sub-menus, then goes through the main menus and sub-menus, which is some 30 items and a slow process.
    • Initiating the jump out of the menu list into the dashboard area or visual editor area can be awkward.
    • To trigger the Publish/Update button needs one to jump out of visual editor and find ones into the publish widget area, again many steps

      • Are you aware of any keyboard shortcuts or any plugin which might help in jumping straight to menu items or across to functional areas?

      thanks

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

  • Hey there!

    Thanks for the suggestion! I’m a member of the WordPress Accessibility Team, so hopefully I can answer your question.

    I don’t see WordPress adding any kind of keyboard shortcuts for the general Admin area. All major screen readers support jumping around the page via different elements, like links, form controls, ARIA roles and others. So a user should be able to navigate easily and quickly in the use-cases you point to in your post.

    WebAIM has some nice articles on screen readers and the shortcuts within them. Check out: https://webaim.org/articles/screenreader_testing/

    Also, if you’re interested in making accessibility in WordPress better, join us here: https://make.www.ads-software.com/accessibility/

    Thread Starter baldarch

    (@baldarch)

    Thanks for your reply David

    Much appreciated.

    I sat with this person a couple of times and what I saw (voice over on Mac) seemed to leave room for improvement.

    The basic problem is getting to the right spot on the screen in an economical way.

    Both this person and their support worker asked me to enquire and, at least in this instance, it seemed like a great idea.

    Interestingly, this user found it easier to navigate on an iPhone, even without installing the WP app. This inconsistency hints that there is probably further room for improvement somewhere.

    I can only pass on your reply and suggest that they might try another screen reader on the Mac and the WP app.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
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