Contrib.social

Issues for Mac VoiceOver screenreader users when deleting characters in the comment subject field and using Safari

Open on Drupal.org →
Created on 15 July 2022, over 2 years ago
Updated 25 February 2025, 12 days ago

Problem/Motivation

When using the VoiceOver screenreader on Mac, VoiceOver should announce each character as it is deleted.

So, if using the backspace key to delete 1 character at a time from the word “delete”, “e” will be announced as you delete it, then “t”, and so on.

I have just found that this is not the case when deleting characters from the subject field when posting a comment.

However, VoiceOver behaves as expected when deleting characters from the comment body field.

This does not *appear* to be a theme issue. I have reproduced this behaviour on stock installations of the Olivero, Bartik, and Stark themes.

This behaviour makes it difficult for VoiceOver users to keep track of which characters have been deleted as they backspace through the subject field.

This behaviour may not present itself on all web browsers. It is present when using Safari, but not Chrome or Orion.

Note that this behaviour does not present itself for VoiceOver on iOS.

Steps to reproduce

1. Have your test site configured to allow comments and for there to be a comment subject field.
2. Access your site using Safari on Mac.
3. Have VoiceOver enabled.
4. Navigate to a node that supports commenting.
5. Place VoiceOver focus in to the subject field.
6. Typer a string of text.
7. Use the backspace key to delete by 1 character at a time.

You should find that VoiceOver does not speak characters as they are deleted.

Compare this behaviour with what happens in the comment body field.

Proposed resolution

Remaining tasks

Determine if this is a Drupal or Safari issue.

User interface changes

API changes

Data model changes

Release notes snippet

🐛 Bug report
Status

Postponed: needs info

Version

11.0 🔥

Component

comment.module

Created by

🇬🇧United Kingdom Janner

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  • Accessibility

    It affects the ability of people with disabilities or special needs (such as blindness or color-blindness) to use Drupal.

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Comments & Activities

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It's likely this issue predates Contrib.social: some issue and comment data are missing.

  • Comment 12 days ago →
    🇦🇺Australia acbramley

    Is this still an issue in the latest version of Drupal and Safari?

  • Comment 11 days ago →
    🇩🇪Germany rkoller Nürnberg, Germany

    The issue was raised in the #bugsmash channel on the drupal slack. i've retested on drupal 11.x with macos 15.3.1, safari 18.3, in voiceover. - tested on a node in the article content type. i am sort of unable to reproduce the problem with the subject field of a comment, instead to me it looks like more of a problem with the ckeditor field used for the comment body field.

    In the video (comment.mp4) i've first added something to the subject field then tabbed to the body field and added some text there as well, then i've shift tabbed back to the subject field and started deleting characters. those deleted characters were not announced. but as soon as i started entering characters again in the subject field either after deleting everything or after one or two characters only the newly entered characters are being announced. if i then delete again characters with backspace in the subject field, those characters are getting announced now as well in contrast to when i shift tabbed back into the subject field. i've tabbed into the body field then and tried to add or delete any characters there, none of that was announced. so from my point of view it seems more like a problem with the body field?! firefox and edge are announcing every character entered or deleted in the subject as well as the body field correctly.

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