Issue Summary

Overview: Comment functionality inaccessible for keyboard only and screen reader users

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open the overview page
2. Activate the “Edit” button and add an inline comment
3. Publish the page
4. Using the screen reader navigate to the commented text and observe that screen reader users cannot navigate and activate the commented text. Resulting, in missing out on comment functionality.

Actual Results

When the screen reader and keyboard-only users navigate to paragraph <p> the commented text cannot be focused by the screen reader or the keyboard alone. As a result, screen reader users cannot access the commented text thus missing out on comment functionality as on activating the commented text the user can access the respective comments.

Expected Results

When the users navigate the page the comments should be available for keyboard-only and screen reader users too. Provide an interactive element to enable and disable the comment view of the page. When the comment view is active make sure that the user can navigate between all the text content. Screen reader users should be able to access the comment in the comment view popup so that using shortcuts such as “p” for the previous comment and “n” for the next comment. Similarly, when the screen reader is reading the text content using a shortcut similar to the editor i.e. “ ⌘ + Opt + C “ to add a comment on the selected text.

Refer following behaviour for the keyboard:

• There should be an interactive element such as a button on the page which will allow users to enable/disable the comments view mode.
• When the user activates the "comments view mode" button the comments view mode should be enabled.
• Keyboard & screen reader users should be able to navigate to any text content present on the page using navigation or tab keys.
• When the user focuses on the text content by pressing shift + left/right/up/down arrow keys users should be able to select the text to add comments.
• When the user presses enter after selecting the text the "Add inline comment" button should be displayed above the selection.
• By pressing the tab key the user should be able to focus on the "Add inline comment" button.

Note: Since it’s a design change take suggestions from the content design team before implementation.

Screenshot

Workaround

1. I'm assuming you have located one of the comments either by reading through a Confluence page or by using something such as the Item Chooser to locate one of the inline comment start indications and then moving to some of the comment text. For new pages, I didn't use the Item Chooser because I was reading the comments as I encountered them. But for pages I'd previously read and wanted to locate just the commented text I found the Item Chooser faster.
2. Ensure the VO cursor is positioned on any of the commented text.
3. Use the Move Mouse Pointer to VO cursor command to move the mouse pointer to the commented text.
4. Use the Click Mouse command to click on the text. This will cause the comment itself to appear in a different area of the page.
5. There are a couple different ways to get to the comment. The one I have found to be the fastest is to use the Item Chooser, enter the word close, locate the close comment sidebar item, move to that and then start reading with VO. You will be able to read the comment and the various controls for taking action. You could also get to this area with heading navigation but it may be several headings depending on the nature of the page.