Chrome 73 Accessibility Release Notes

[Laura (Palmaro) Allen]

Hi all,

Chrome version 73 comes with a number of accessibility fixes and improvements across platforms. Here are some of the notable updates in this milestone.

• Highlights

• In addition to supporting USB refreshable braille displays, Chromebooks now support bluetooth braille displays, as well.

• Better compatibility of ChromeVox and dictation on Chromebooks.

• Windows, Mac, Linux

• The Switch Accounts pop-up (available through pressing Shift+Ctrl+M or Shift+Cmd+M) now has an accessible dialog title.

• The Find in Page pop-up now has an accessible dialog title.

• Links in built-in pages like Settings now sometimes contain an additional accessible description.

• Chrome 73 fixes a bug where focus was not returned to a web page after exiting a context menu.

• Chrome OS

• The eSpeak-NG speech synthesis engine is now included by default, enabling text-to-speech in dozens of languages.

• Fixes an issue where highlighting the mouse cursor, caret, or keyboard focused item (feature available in accessibility settings) did not fade out after motion stopped.

• Select-to-speak now works in Google Docs embedded in other sites.

• Press Shift+Alt+V to focus the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) window, if one is open.

• The built-in Camera app is now more accessible.

• The app launcher better describes folders when you're using ChromeVox.

• ChromeVox

• Press Search+O+B to quickly check the battery status.

• When both dictation and ChromeVox are enabled, press Search+D to begin dictation. 73 fixes a keyboard shortcut conflict that had occurred with a different ChromeVox command.

• 73 includes better handling of ARIA sliders.

• Braille tables have been updated

• Chrome 73 fixes an issue where the Show Bookmarks Bar menu item wouldn't indicate when it was selected.

• In addition to supporting USB refreshable braille displays, Chromebooks now support bluetooth braille displays, as well. The pairing settings are in the ChromeVox options page (which you can access through pressing Search+O then O).

• Chrome 73 fixes an issue where copying from a text field using Ctrl+A and then Ctrl+C wouldn't work.

• Fixes an issue where tapping on a button on a touch screen could select only the text of the button rather than the entire button.

• Web Platform

• In Chrome 73, the setCustomValidity message shown for a form control is now accessible.

• Chrome 73 includes performance improvements in pages with large lists, tables, and large blocks of text.

• Improvements to the accessible text of built-in controls for audio and video elements.

• Android

• Fixes an issue where the placeholder from an input field wasn't announced by TalkBack

• Fixes an issue where disabled form controls were incorrectly described as clickable by TalkBack.

• Fixes an issue where TalkBack's highlight wasn't updating when  tapping on the Search box on the New Tab Page.

• Fixes an issue where it wasn't possible to paste into the omnibox when TalkBack was enabled.

• Fixes an issue where the passphrase field in the sync encryption settings was not properly labeled.

• Developer Tools

• In Chrome 73, the color picker now shows both WCAG AA and AAA contrast lines, helping developers get a better understanding of contrast ratios and guidelines as they build.

Laura (Palmaro) Allen |

Google |

Chrome & Chrome OS Accessibility Program Manager | Pronouns: she/her

Laura (Palmaro) Allen |

Google |

Chrome & Chrome OS Accessibility Program Manager | Pronouns: she/her

[Bryan Duarte]

Bryan Duarte | software engineer

ASU Computer Science Ph.D Student

Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC Lab)
IGERT Fellow
Alliance for Person-centered Accessible Technology (APAcT)
National Federation of the Blind of Arizona | Affiliate Board Member
Phone: 480-652-3045

On Apr 1, 2019, at 10:28 AM, Bryan Duarte <brya...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello all,

I am not sure how I have not come across this before now but recently I was asked to try to activate a link that is embedded in text within a G-Doc. I was amazed to see that I was unable to interact with or activate the links within this document using Chrome Vox, VoiceOver, or Jaws. Is there a command or key stroke that is used to activate a link in a G-Doc? I tried the following with no success:

• Enter/Return key

• Chrome Vox keys plus spacebar

• Spacebar

On Mac using VoiceOver:

• VO plus spacebar

• spacebar

Jaws

• Enter/Return key

The document was created in G-Docs and I have provided the link below if someone wishes to give it a try. Note, all of these links are showing up as hyperlinks visually and can be activated using a mouse. 

Here is the link to the document.https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BZXQIia4WKXHBNKEVzdWy0n2yka-R-m7LPE_6Vm71Hw/edit#

Bryan Duarte | software engineer

ASU Computer Science Ph.D Student
IGERT Fellow
Alliance for Person-centered Accessible Technology (APAcT)
Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC Lab)
National Federation of the Blind of Arizona | Affiliate Board Member
National Association of Blind Students | Board Member
Arizona Association of Blind Students | President
Phone: 480-652-3045

[Blake Sinnett]

Hi,

 

Alt+Enter works here on Windows 10, Chrome 73 and NVDA 2019.1.

 

Thanks,

Blake

[Bryan Duarte]

Here is the link to the document.https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BZXQIia4WKXHBNKEVzdWy0n2yka-R-m7LPE_6Vm71Hw/edit#,

You were able to download the executable using only keyboard commands? You are using NVDA on a Windows? Ok I did not try that screen reader but is there anyone else who can do it using Chrome Vox, Jaws, or VoiceOver? Thanks for your feedback.

Bryan Duarte | software engineer

ASU Computer Science Ph.D Student

Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC Lab)
IGERT Fellow
Alliance for Person-centered Accessible Technology (APAcT)
National Federation of the Blind of Arizona | Affiliate Board Member
Phone: 480-652-3045

On Apr 1, 2019, at 10:33 AM, Blake Sinnett <freque...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Blake