1716018 - The Firefox elements are no longer recognized by the VoiceOver screen reader after pressing the "Keep in Dock" button

Status: NEW

(Core :: Widget: Cocoa, defect, P3)

Description

[Cosmin Muntean [:cmuntean], Ecosystem QA]

[Affected versions]:

• Firefox Beta 90.0b5;
• Nightly 91.0a1

[Affected Platforms]:

• macOS 10.15.7;
• macOS 15.14.6;
• macOS 11.4;

[Prerequisites]:

• Have the latest Firefox 90 Beta.
• The Firefox is not kept in dock.
• Have the VoiceOver screen reader enabled.

[Steps to reproduce]:

1. Open the Firefox browser using a new clean profile.
2. Press the tab key until the "Keep in Dock" button is focused.
3. Press the "Enter" key.
4. Wait until the VoiceOver reads the Header 1, then navigate through the browser using the tab key.
5. Observe the behavior.

[Expected result]:

• The VoiceOver screen reader keeps reading all the focused elements.

[Actual result]:

• The VoiceOver screen reader no longer reads the focused elements.

[Notes]:

• If the browser is unfocused and then focused again, the VoiceOver continues reading the focused elements.

Comment 1

[Ed Lee :Mardak]

This might be related to bug 1714148 perhaps also caused by the Dock getting killed and restarted? I noticed after clicking "Keep in Dock" in Firefox, VoiceOver announces the next screen of about:welcome then starts announcing…

"actions available, You are currently on a application dock item. To open this application, press Control-Option-Space. To show exposé press Control-Option-Command-Space first to bring up the action…"

And pressing control-option-left/right does indeed move through items on the Dock.

Comment 2

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

Cosmin, can you monitor if Firefox is getting killed and restarted?

Comment 3

[Cosmin Muntean [:cmuntean], Ecosystem QA]

I have monitored all the Firefox processes while reproducing the issue, but from what I have observed no process was killed. However, I have noticed that the VoiceOver focus jumps on the first item in the docker and remains focused even if you are navigating through the Firefox elements using the keyboard.
I have uploaded a screen recording of this behavior. You can find it here: GDrive.

Please let me know if you need any other information.

Comment 4

[Ed Lee :Mardak]

The issue isn't Firefox getting killed as that would likely result in Firefox closing completely. I mentioned the Dock getting killed in comment 1.

Moving to a macOS related component although if inappropriate here, most likely it'll end up in Toolkit::General matching original bug 1709598.

Comment 5

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl]]

Are you able to reproduce this behavior when you pin Google Chrome to the Dock in the same way?

Comment 6

[Cosmin Muntean [:cmuntean], Ecosystem QA]

@Stephen I am not sure if I can reproduce this behavior in the same way with Chrome, because this issue is related to the "Keep in Dock" button from the "about:welcome" page in Firefox.
Do you know if Chrome has a similar button or option so I can try to reproduce this behavior?

Comment 7

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl]]

Yes:

1. Ensure that Google Chrome is not installed on the system.
2. Download Google Chrome.
3. Open Disk Image and double-click the app icon (don't drag and drop to the Applications directory).
4. When prompted, click to Install Google Chrome.

The difference here might be that Google Chrome wasn't running at the time that the Dock is killed, but it would be good to get confirmation whether or not VoiceOver works after the Dock is killed and restarted.

Comment 8

[Cosmin Muntean [:cmuntean], Ecosystem QA]

@Stephen thank you for providing the steps to test this behavior in Chrome. I have followed them and it seems that after Chrome is installed and pin to the Dock, the VoiceOver screen reader focuses the new tab from Chrome and continues reading all the focused elements using the keyboard navigation.
So it seems that VoiceOver works as expected using this method for Chrome.

I have also made a screen recording. You can find it here: GDrive.

Comment 9

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl]]

Thank you for verifying!