The output of Live Regions is not consistent if the page does not have the focus

[JAWS-test]

Summary

The output of Live Regions is not consistent if the page does not have the focus

1. Go to https://support.freedomscientific.com/Training/Surfs-Up/AriaLiveRegions.htm
2. navigate to the menu of the browser
3. navigate to another tab of the same browser
4. switch to another application (e.g. to another browser)
5. add role=alert to the live region in the developer environment (F12)
6. repeat steps 2-4.

Expected result

• Consistent output between browsers
• Identical output of aria-live=assertive and role=alert
• I don't know what the output has to be like. This should be defined in the ARIA specification

Actual result

• Different output from browser to browser
• Different output of aria-live=assertive and role=alert

see also: w3c/aria-practices#78 and many other problems with live regions: https://github.com/FreedomScientific/VFO-standards-support/issues?q=live+region

The following overview shows whether the live region is output or not. First for aria-live=polite and aria-live=assertive (no difference between the two values) and then (after the /) for role=alert

IE 11

• focus at the browser menu: no / yes
• focus at another tab: no / yes
• focus in a different program: no / no

Firefox

• focus at the browser menu: yes / yes
• focus at another tab: yes (is not reliable, only some updates are output and not all) / yes
• focus in a different program: no / yes (the output of Firefox is very assertive and interrupts all output of the program which actually has the focus, even alert messages of the program)

Chrome

• focus at the browser menu: yes / yes
• focus at another tab: no / no
• focus in a different program: no / no

Additional Information

JAWS version and build number

JAWS 2019.1907.42

Operating System and version

Windows 8

Browser and version:

Chrome 76.0.3809.100
Firefox 68.0.2
Internet Explorer 11.0.9600.19431