1892417 - Add an autofocus property for feature callout messages that will disable the autofocus behavior in FeatureCallout.sys.mjs

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: Messaging System, enhancement, P2)

Description

[Kestrel]

Attachment: Survey stealing keyboard focus in new tabs

STR:

1. Have NEWTAB_CSAT_SURVEY message enabled ("Help Firefox improve this page").
2. Open a new tab in order to perform a search.
3. Start typing.

Expected:
Address bar has keyboard focused and fills with typed text.

Actual:
Nothing happens, keyboard focus is in the survey message panel.

User is interrupted and needs to move focus to the address bar to perform the search they had planned. This interruption continues each time a new tab is opened as long as the survey has not been dismissed. The survey is not modal and only occupies the lower corner of the window, so the keyboard stealing behavior feels unwarranted.

The survey message only appears for me in the current Release 125 and not Beta 126 or Nightly 127.

Comment 1

[Shane Hughes [:aminomancer]]

That is working as expected. All feature callouts are auto focused. It ensures that screen readers can announce the popup immediately and that keyboard users can easily interact with it. True that it makes interacting with the address bar more difficult, but that's a one-time nuisance. Once you dismiss the survey, it will never come back. On the other hand, not auto-focusing would mean we effectively don't get to survey most users with visual limitations. So, I don't think it's a straightforward decision how to balance these considerations.

This is an experiment, so it can't be changed and will end in a few weeks. But we could consider whether to make auto-focus optional and use it more sparingly for future callouts. With respect to newtab and PDF.js surveys specifically, it will be resolved automatically by supporting in-content callouts (bug 1885593), as they would be the first focus within the page, but would not take focus until the page/browser itself is focused, which requires tabbing into it. That seems somewhat problematic for a11y, but we want to do it anyway for other reasons. As for other callouts (e.g. Review Checker callouts), they're all pretty prominently displayed in the browser chrome, and I don't see a good enough reason not to auto-focus them.

Comment 2

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The severity field is not set for this bug.
:aminomancer, could you have a look please?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 3

[Shane Hughes [:aminomancer]]

The goal here is to add an autofocus property for feature callout messages that will disable the autofocus behavior in FeatureCallout.sys.mjs.

This is a relatively straightforward change. Read through FeatureCallout.sys.mjs and search for focus and you'll see what's going on. It's a decent introduction to the feature callout surface.