ARIA support for source/journalist interfaces

[heartsucker]

Feature request

Description

We should include ARIA tags in our interfaces to make the application more usable by differently-abled sources and journalists. I have not added ARIA support to a web application before, so I can't provide a detailed breakdown of what needs to be done.

I'm not sure how this will work with all the qt tools we're working on, so we may have to investigate any standards for that.

User Research Evidence

None. But by not including this, we are potentially excluding an entire class of user.

User Stories

As visually impaired user, I want to be able to use my screen reader with SecureDrop.

As user who may not be able to use a keyboard/mouse, I want to be able to use speech based commands to interact with SecureDrop.

[toast]

It would be amazing to open up SecureDrop more to folks using assistive technologies (AT). For my setup at least, one of the biggest barriers to this on the Source side seems to be Tor Browser.

When I try to use Voiceover (screenreader) on Mac, Tor Browser shows this worrying message in a Firefox style doorhanger:

"Accessibility support is partially disabled due to compatibility issues with new Tor Browser features".

And when I navigate with the screenreader to the 'web content pane' it is not possible to enter the content area; this means no websites (including SecureDrop) can be accessed.

If anyone else is able to test for the same Tor Browser issue with a screenreader it would be great to check that it's not just a quirk of my setup. On Mac you can use cmd+F5 to activate voiceover (ctrl+alt+h for help).

For a Source using a different browser - perhaps using a VPN and ignoring SecureDrop's warning message recommending Tor Browser - adding ARIA tags would increase usability when using AT especially in 'rich' areas of the app such as modals. Here's an example of how to make a modal more usable with ARIA - notice that it focuses a lot also on using javascript to manage focus. Aside from ARIA, there are some basic accessibility fixes that may be lower hanging fruit such as adding appropriate alt text to all images and icons, and ensuring the whole site can be navigated using just the keyboard. Because SecureDrop uses no JavaScript, the app is less 'Rich' than other apps therefore the WCAG 2.0 guidelines may be more applicable than ARIA (although ARIA is still useful). I've found that many people prefer the unofficial 'Wuhcag checklist' over the w3 guidelines as it is written in a more digestible format.

Aside: "More than a billion people in the world today experience disability" [World Health Organisation]. Many of these folks may use AT of one kind or another, and there are additional people who might not have been classified this way who also use AT (think people watching the TV in a bar with subtitles turned on).

[ninavizz]

Oh, FFS... commenting, to get this on my own radar to raise with TOR peeps. Really, REALLY love the idea of getting the Journalist web experience ARIA compatible.

[ninavizz]

Ploppin' this here... relevant to making things more accessible: http://intopia.digital/articles/whats-new-in-wcag-2-1/

Just curious (with no urgency), what would the magnitude of effort be to just get ARIA tags in the Source interface?

[eloquence]

@toast In case you're still following this issue, have you noticed any improvements in screenreader/Tor Browser interaction on Mac?

[cfm]

This is foundationally complete as of #6041 and #6165, which have refactored the Source and Journalist Interfaces, respectively, to use HTML5 semantic markup and (where necessary) explicit ARIA annotations. #5972 lists some further accessibility improvements to follow on this foundation, and new tickets tagged a11y are welcome!