1712156 - threadTree has misaligned headers in the accessibility tree

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Disability Access, defect)

Description

[Henry Wilkes (they/them) [:henry-x]]

It seems that the accessibility tree will always order the threadTree columnHeaders in the same order as the corresponding <treecol>s appear in the document structure:

https://searchfox.org/comm-central/rev/7ba8d9953373770b53c0606c49b26d2dfa5c60d9/mail/base/content/threadTree.inc.xhtml#36

Select Messages, Thread, Starred, Attachments, Subject, Read, From, ...

This same ordering remains even if the visual order is different, which a user is able to change. It should also be noted that the default visual ordering for a new profile is different:

Select Messages, Thread, Starred, Attachments, Read, Junk Status, Subject, ...

In contrast, the ordering in the accessibility tree of the gridcells is the same as the visual order. What this means is that the columnHeaders do not align with the gridcells. So for a new default profile, the read status will appear under the Subject header in the accessibility tree, the junk status under the Read header and the subject under the From header, etc.

I imagine this would make the association between cells and headers broken for screen reader users.

Comment 1

[Henry Wilkes (they/them) [:henry-x]]

Can probably be fixed automatically in the new 3pane in bug 1729379