Bug 221716 – AX: VoiceOver incorrectly announces groups in ARIA tree instances as empty

• Status: RESOLVED
• Resolution: FIXED
• Component: Accessibility

[Todd Kloots]

Created attachment 419902 [details]
Screen recording demonstrating the bug

Steps to reproduce the problem
1. Start VoiceOver
2. Go to https://codepen.io/toddlr/pen/WNoGBQO
3. Use VoiceOver navigation to navigate the ARIA tree instance
4. Observe how VoiceOver announces "Jungle Animals, expanded, 0 items enclosed"

[Radar WebKit Bug Importer]

<rdar://problem/74205567>

[chris fleizach]

I think we determined this was due to DOM hierarchy usage and that it can be fixed by making the group with aria-owns the sub-element of the tree item

[Todd Kloots]

Chris, 

This issue has been proven to persist, even when the group with aria-owns is a child of the treeitem that controls its expansion.

I've created an update prototype (https://codepen.io/toddlr/pen/MWbbree) and you can see for yourself with the following repro steps:

1. Start VoiceOver
2. Go to https://codepen.io/toddlr/pen/MWbbree
3. Use VoiceOver navigation to navigate the tree
4. Observe how VoiceOver will announce a group with aria-owns as having "0 items enclosed"

Todd

[Todd Kloots]

Created attachment 420477 [details]
Screen recording of an ARIA group with aria-owns announced as "0 items enclosed"

This is a screen recording of using https://codepen.io/toddlr/pen/MWbbree with VoiceOver navigation

[Todd Kloots]

Created attachment 420478 [details]
Screen recording of the CodePen using Focus Navigation

This example demonstrates how VoiceOver does not announce "0 items enclosed" when using keyboard shortcuts implemented in JavaScript:

1. Start VoiceOver
2. Go to https://codepen.io/toddlr/pen/MWbbree
3. Use the tab key to move focus to the ARIA tree instance
4. Navigate the tree using the up/down arrow keys
5. Observe how VoiceOver does not announce the ARIA group with aria-owns as having "0 items enclosed"

[chris fleizach]

Created attachment 421231 [details]
patch

[chris fleizach]

Created attachment 421265 [details]
patch

[EWS]

Committed r273328: <https://commits.webkit.org/r273328>

All reviewed patches have been landed. Closing bug and clearing flags on attachment 421265 [details].

[Todd Kloots]

Verified fixed. Tested using Mac OS 14.1.1 in both Chrome (Version 119.0.6045.199) and Safari (Version 17.1 (19616.2.9.11.7)).