Use of --force-renderer-accessibility

[DanH]

I have attempted to test the accessibility feature of the Chrome
browser (12.0.742.122 on Windows) using the --force-renderer-
accessibility command line parameter. I start Chrome with the
parameter and then run the Microsoft MSAA tool AccExplorer32. The
AccExplorer32 view of the Chrome browser produces a tree down to the
'document' element under the 'Web Content' grouping element. Nothing
inside the actual document produces any elements. Am I doing
something wrong? Am I under the wrong impression that the Chrome
browser supports MSAA?

Thanks,

Dan

[Dominic Mazzoni]

Hi Dan,

Chromium does support MSAA, however I believe that in Chrome 12, the accessibility tree was accidentally "broken" - the web elements support MSAA but they're not children of the parent object. This did not affect screen readers, they continued to work, but it meant that testing tools like AccExplorer32 wouldn't work.

This is definitely fixed in the latest build. Try downloading the Chrome dev channel and let us know if that works better for you:

  http://www.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-channel

- Dominic

[Harlin, Dan]

Thanks.  Will attempt this tomorrow.

 

---

[DanH]

That worked like a champ! Thanks.

[willisis...@gmail.com]

[Aaron Leventhal]

I'm not sure why that flag wouldn't work. Chrome not only supports MSAA, but also IAccessible2.

You could definitely get results by starting the NVDA screen reader. Can you let us know if that helps?

- Aaron