RC Spot Check: Resistance In A Wire 1.5.0-rc.8

[zepumph]

@jessegreenberg, @ariel-phet, @emily-phet, @terracoda, @KatieWoe, @lmulhall-phet, Resistance in a Wire 1.5.0-rc.8 is ready for RC testing.

I think this is a spot check on the issues below. This is the 6th round of QA for RC.

Link to sim

Link to iFrame

Link to Testing Matrix

Before beginning, please familiarize yourself with how a screen reader works. Here is a page with information about PhET's supported screen readers and documentation about how to use them:
Screen reader intro

The simulation to test has labels and/or descriptions. They can be "seen" here:
Link to a11y view

This view shows what is available to a screen reader user. The sim is on the left side in an iframe, while the right side has all of the accessible descriptions. Beneath the sim are real-time alerts that will be announced by the screen reader. Please make sure that the descriptions on the right accurately describe the simulation at all times.

PhET supports the following platforms for accessibility so please test these:

• JAWS with latest Windows, latest Firefox
• NVDA with latest Windows, latest Firefox
• VoiceOver with latest macOS, latest Safari

For QA to keep track of what's been checked. In order of priority:

• Win10, all browsers
• latest macOS, all browsers
• Chrome OS
• iOS, all supported versions
• latest Android
• older Win
• older macOS

Please also verify

• stringTest=double (all strings doubled)
• stringTest=long (exceptionally long strings)
• stringTest=X (short strings)
• stringTest=rtl (right-to-left)
• stringTest=xss (test passes if sim does not redirect, OK if sim crashes or fails to fully start)
• showPointerAreas (touchArea=red, mouseArea=blue)
• Full screen test
• Screenshot test
• Does AR need to be notified for any LOL updates?

Accessibility strings that are not visible should not be translatable yet, do not worry if these do not change with string tests.

If any new issues are found, please note them in https://github.com/phetsims/resistance-in-a-wire/issues and reference this issue.

Critical screen reader information

• JAWS might complain about Firefox Quantum. If that is the case, please test with https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/
• The screen reader must be turned on and reading before the browser is open for it to work. See Sometimes JAWS doesn't work in FF a11y-research#90
• JAWS might not automatically switch to forms mode for some controls (like sliders and radio buttons). In this case, pressing "enter" should switch to forms mode. For example, see aria-orientation attribute prevents JAWS from entering forms mode automatically  resistance-in-a-wire#138
• The screen reader might focus the last UI component that had focus on sim load, typically on refresh. This is a "feature". For example, see For example, see Keyboard help button highlighted upon loading sim resistance-in-a-wire#139.

(Other potentially useful items)

Please make sure that the following issues are fixed:

• Jaws reading pause on resistivity slider resistance-in-a-wire#164
• Alerts only work 70% of the time on JAWS and FF 60 resistance-in-a-wire#165

@ariel-phet please assign and prioritize

[jessegreenberg]

@KatieWoe and others, the largest difference between this version and the previous one is how the dots in the wire are drawn so please be on the lookout for bugs in the wire dots on a few different platforms.

[KatieWoe]

@zepumph @jessegreenberg I ended up testing Jaws on Win 10 chrome before I noticed that it was meant to be on firefox. I found issues in chrome that I did not find in firefox, but it looks like we don't support chrome. What should be done with those issues?
Also, @jessegreenberg I didn't see any bugs in the wire dots, but I wasn't sure what exactly to look out for or how those bugs were produced.

[zepumph]

If they weren't in Firefox, I would recommend scrapping the issues. We are very browser/at combo dependent these days. That said I defer to @jessegreenberg's recommendation.

[ghost]

In phetsims/resistance-in-a-wire#165 (comment) @jessegreenberg writes:

I determined that the dotsNode was causing the greatest performance impact and removing it entirely from the ScreenView is what made the alerts come through much more consistently and JAWS to feel more responsive when moving the sliders.

I went ahead and re-implemented the dots with CanvasNode and this issue is much improved.

Here is a comment from https://github.com/phetsims/resistance-in-a-wire/blob/master/js/resistance-in-a-wire/view/DotsCanvasNode.js that might be helpful:

/**
 * Draw the dots in the wire with a CanvasNode as a performance enhancement. This is much faster than drawing drawing
 * each dot as a Circle node and updating their visibility. Dots are redrawn whenever model Properties change that
 * might change the shape of the wire or add or remove dots (length, area, resistivity).
 * 
 * @author Jesse Greenberg
 */

EDIT: "drawing drawing" lol.

[ariel-phet]

Current top priority

[jessegreenberg]

I found issues in chrome that I did not find in firefox, but it looks like we don't support chrome. What should be done with those issues?

That is correct, we do not support JAWS + Chrome because usage with that combination is extremely low. Could you please list some of the things you found on Chrome? We may support Chrome + Chromevox in the near future. I am just curious, no need to retest or anything formal.

I didn't see any bugs in the wire dots, but I wasn't sure what exactly to look out for or how those bugs were produced.

Good to hear. My only point was that this received a lot of changes since the last version so if there are any bugs, this is likely where they will be.

[KatieWoe]

The big thing was that when it was reading the description of the scene it read off the default settings as if they were still there before entering the list with the actual settings. It also seemed to be highlighting text that wasn't there.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uOahyc2RO2oa8HBOphWTX26-f7ySoe0Z/view?usp=sharing

[KatieWoe]

@jonathanolson
This bug phetsims/scenery#837 is present in the sim. On Windows 10 Firefox using multitouch in the sim will freeze an aspect of the sim. If you attempt to move more than one slider at a time using the touch screen on Win 10 Firefox the slider will freeze and you will need to refresh the page.

[jessegreenberg]

Thanks @KatieWoe. @jonathanolson can we cherry-pick phetsims/scenery@5347f0e into a scenery maintenance branch for this release?

[KatieWoe]

QA is finished testing.

[zepumph]

I'll create a new RC now, in it will be:

• commit addressing RC Spot Check: Resistance In A Wire 1.5.0-rc.8 #179 (comment)
• fix for Impurity dots turn yellow in screenshot resistance-in-a-wire#171
• fix for Impurity dots outside of wire resistance-in-a-wire#170

[zepumph]

@KatieWoe, could you confirm that phetsims/resistance-in-a-wire#160 has been fixed in this RC, sorry for the delay, it got lost!

[KatieWoe]

@zepumph Just tested it, but I did see there is a more recent rc for this sim, do you want the issue tested there as well?

[zepumph]

Oh sorry about that. Yes please do. Thanks.

[KatieWoe]

@zepumph can this be closed again, since the newer rc is also in the repo?