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Test new header-first DOM with screenreader users
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Description

With the new header-first DOM enabled in T261802 and outcome of T240489 we need to collect feedback from users of screenreader software.

  • Does orientation on page meet user expectation?
  • Does users get in timely and usable manner to
    • navigation?
    • content?
    • search?
  • What are your impressions of this order of regions in article compared to this one?

Example article
New DOM structure: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Helianthus&useskinversion=2
Former DOM structure: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Helianthus&useskinversion=1

Main page
New DOM structure: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?useskinversion=2
Former DOM structure: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?useskinversion=1

Event Timeline

lgtm, just had one thought below:

How disruptive is the change in contrast to the old DOM order?

Not sure if the question should be asked in that way as it seems a bit of a leading question (assumes that the change might be disruptive). Something like "What are your impressions of the this tab order compared to this tab order" might be less suggestive

Not sure if the question should be asked in that way as it seems a bit of a leading question (assumes that the change might be disruptive). Something like "What are your impressions of the this tab order compared to this tab order" might be less suggestive

+1 to this

Also, I'm not sure what effect this would have on the test, but wanted to note that the implementation of T262872 (currently in ready for dev) might play a role in how users perceive the new DOM order (bringing back the ability to jump from the sidebar button directly into the sidebar)

Volker_E updated the task description. (Show Details)

lgtm, just had one thought below:

How disruptive is the change in contrast to the old DOM order?

Not sure if the question should be asked in that way as it seems a bit of a leading question (assumes that the change might be disruptive). Something like "What are your impressions of the this tab order compared to this tab order" might be less suggestive

Sounds good to me, generalizing, as tab order is not necessarily point for screenreader users, more for keyboard only users.

AFB told that they should be able to get back to us approximately mid-week 11 Oct–17 Oct.

Volker_E claimed this task.

The AFB response on the new DOM is positive!

From a usability perspective, the changes made to the DOM all seem to be improvements to navigation or understandability of the content of the page. There are menus and tools that have been moved that reduce the amount of navigation a keyboard or screen reader user needs to perform, which is always helpful.

From a technical perspective, nothing provided in this feedback appears to be a WCAG violation. All the elements behaved as expected and we didn't see anything that stood out during our time investigating the feedback.

They've shared some minor concerns about heading structure that will be filed as follow-ups.

Another win:

On the old DOM structure the 'Personal Tools', 'Namespaces', and 'Views' Navigation
landmark regions were part of the level 2 'Navigation menu' heading which was further down in
the page. The screen reader user had to navigate deep in the page to get to these options. This
is also true for the search field which was part of the level 3 heading and appeared after the
'Navigation Menu'.
This challenge has been solved in the new DOM structure.