1817085 - Screen reader does not read the message body content

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: Message Reader UI, defect, P1)

Description

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #1817083 +++

From Elizabeth's accessibility analysis:

When a message is open, the screen reader does not read the message body content

112.0a1 (2023-02-15) (64-bit), Win10

STR

• Select a msg in thread pane (or else open it in a tab)
• (~optionally) Press tab until the message body pane is focused

Actual:

• Screen reader reads stuff like inline notifications on the message and subject, but does not read the message body content (at all)

Expected

• Screen reader should read the message body content (certainly when the message body is explicitly focused)
• I'm not familiar enough with screen reader best practices to judge, but probably the message body also be read when the message is just getting selected in Thread pane (after reading the message details)?

Comment 1

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

This deserves high attention, because it blocks a whole swath of users from using the beta that we need to help us with testing.
Not sure if the task goes to Geoff or Elizabeth.

Comment 2

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Matching severity of bug 1813492

Comment 3

[Peter Vágner]

Most likelly I am missunderstanding this.
The way how I use thunderbird is:

• Launch Thunderbird
• Use tab / shift+tab or F6 / shift+F6 to jump to the message list
• Use arrow keys to find a message of interest.
• Either press the enter key and the message opens on a new tab / in a new window according to my preferences.
• Or if message pane is showing in the main window, press tab key several times to navigate to the message pane.

No matter which of these routes I'll take the message is displayed as a document and at least on linux with orca I can read the content.
Yes the message is not read as a whole when tabbing to the document in question but it has never been working like this.
In order to read a web document screen readers often implement their own features. NVDA on windows has a virtual buffer known as browse mode. Orca on linux has browse mode. It tries to mimic the feature but it's not indexing content on its own it just controls the caret.
Does it mean browse mode is not activated when testing this on windows?
Because on linux I can read the message content.

Comment 4

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

Thank you for this information. I originally tested this with the default screen reader on Windows, Narrator. It is unclear how to read messages with the default screen reader. I tested this again with NVDA today.

In 102.8.0, the flow of reading a message with the NVDA screen reader in Windows follows as expected when using TAB. (The from is read, then the to, then the message subject, then the message). In 112.0a1, the flow is different. (We need to look into this flow and make it easy for users to navigate to the message content. But that is a separate issue.) When I am able to open the message and navigate to the message body, the content of the message is read by NVDA with no problems.

The problem with Narrator is both present in 102.8.0 and 112.0a1. This therefore may not be a bug, but may be a lack of information about how Narrator works. Or maybe Narrator is not compatible with Thunderbird.

Closer to the launch of the new stable release, it may be helpful point to the documentation on screen readers in Thunderbird and make sure this is kept up-to-date. NVDA is listed but Windows Narrator is not.

Comment 5

[Peter Vágner]

I have found out that Microsoft Narrator built into Windows 10 is able to read document content in both Firefox and Thunderbird. Tested with Thunderbird 102 and Firefox 110. When reading message content with thunderbird it's needed to manually switch into so called scan mode by pressing narator key + space. The narrator key should be insert.
It would be nice to get this verified by some real windows users however I really think minor changes in placement of controls and little differences when updating to new major version should not be such a huge issue.

Comment 6

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

Thank you, Peter. I will test the narrator key + space and see if that reads the message in Windows. Thanks so much for your help.

Comment 7

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

Update: Windows Narrator does read messages. You get to it using tab when opening the message. After tab focus on the subject, the next tab focuses on the message body conetnt. Using the down key reads the message in many cases. The arrow keys are used to navigate through the message. This works in 102.8.0 and the most recent 112 version. You may need to use narrator key + space to toggle on the narrator scanning text.

Narrator is not as fluid as other screen readers in terms of what it reads. But it does work.

Comment 8

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

I need to also confirm this is also working on Mac, but I think this should work fine.

Comment 9

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

Update: It's hard to read a message with Voice Over on Mac (default screen reader). But this is the same problem with 102 and 112.

Ctrl + Option + Shift can help a user interact with specific elements. I was only able to read the first line of the message and not navigate further. More documentation would be needed to support users using Voice Over.