Facet Navigation and Screen Reader(s) in Blacklight 8

[VanessaVenti]

VoiceOver: In Blacklight 8, when expanded, the first item (e.g., creator, date) reads the name of the filter, not the count associated with the filter. Each filter should include the number of items related to the filter when reading out to screenreaders.

WCAG Criteria: 1.1.1 Non-text Content

Audit Method: Screenreader testing

Action: Ensure all items and their respective counts are read correctly

[seanaery]

@VanessaVenti Could you provide a bit more context for this issue? A screenshot might help.

• Is this related to the issue reported in #3241 ?
• Is the main problem that the link to each value within any given expanded facet only reads out the value and not the associated count for that value?
• Is it more about the facet header interaction for each facet field? Or maybe both the header and the values?
• If a screenreader could report out a "number of items related to the filter" - what would ideally be counted? The number of unique values still left to select from for more filtering? The number of currently applied/selected values in the current context? Something else?

[VanessaVenti]

@seanaery, I reached out to our UX researcher to answer to your questions, below is their response. Let me know if you have any other questions or feedback!

• Is this related to the issue reported in https://github.com/projectblacklight/blacklight/issues/3241?

  • Yes it is exactly the same issue!

• Is the main problem that the link to each value within any given expanded facet only reads out the value and not the associated count for that value?

  • Yes this is the accurate description of how the screenreader is reading the facet.

• Is it more about the facet header interaction for each facet field? Or maybe both the header and the values?

  • It is about making sure the values are read when the screenreader is reading the facet.

• If a screenreader could report out a "number of items related to the filter" - what would ideally be counted? The number of unique values still left to select from for more filtering? The number of currently applied/selected values in the current context? Something else?

  • This one would be ideally the value associated with the current state of the filter. For example, when reading out the list of facets, it would include the value to the left. So this would read “1900, 42 entries"

  • If a value or values are selected, it would still read the value to the left. Here is a screenshot of a filter selected. In this the screenreader would read the facet and number (1900–02 one entry) then the button to cancel the filter.