Bug 286267 – AX: VoiceOver does not announce text preceding some phrasing elements

• Status: NEW
• Component: Accessibility

[Adrian Roselli]

In a test using `<mark>`, `role="mark"`, `role="deletion"`, or `role="insertion"`, VoiceOver with Safari does not announce the opening of the sentence, instead jumping to where the element starts.

To replicate:

1. Open Safari and activate VoiceOver
2. Go to https://cdpn.io/aardrian/debug/rNRxZmP
3. Use the `read-all` command (VO + A)
4. Observe how, for most paragraphs, the first words are not announced.

Other notes:

* The unannounced text appears in the speech viewer.
* The unannounced text appears in the Braille viewer.
* The text is announced using other navigation methods.
* The text is announced in Chrome when using read-all.
* The text is announced in Firefox when using read-all.
* Code visible at https://codepen.io/aardrian/pen/rNRxZmP

More details:

* The buggy MARK examples only start announcing at `<mark>`, `<mark role="mark">`, and `<span role="mark">`.

* The buggy DEL examples only start announcing at `<del role="deletion">` and `<span role="deletion">`. There is no issue with `<del>`.

* The buggy INS examples only start announcing at `<ins role="insertion">` and `<span role="insertion">`. There is no issue with `<ins>`.

* The buggy S examples only start announcing at `<s role="deletion">` and `<span role="deletion">`. There is no issue with `<s>`.

The attached video demonstrates this. It has no captions.

Possibly related:

The following bugs also have clipped announcements, though the scenarios and elements are far different:

* 249154: AX: Role of combobox on button cuts off screen reader announcement (voice over) https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=249154

* 285047: AX: combobox button value text clipped https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=285047

[Radar WebKit Bug Importer]

<rdar://problem/143272808>

[Adrian Roselli]

Trying to attach a 1.41 MB video, but keep getting a "413 Request Entity Too Large" error, even though the file upload screen says files up to 1GB are allowed. Will try again later.

[Adrian Roselli]

Ok, still cannot upload video (tried multiple days and browsers). You can get to the video in this Masto post:
https://toot.cafe/@aardrian/113861850234398134

[Adrian Roselli]

This has regressed. Using VoiceOver / macOS 15.4 / Safari 18.4 now the elements `<del>`, `<ins>`, and `<s>` are impacted.

[Daniel Koskinen]

I can confirm the continuing existence of this bug, tested on Safari 18.5 (20621.2.5.11.8) on macOS 15.5 (24F74).