[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #29974: Focus handle at wrong place when you click reply

[WordPress Trac]

#29974: Focus handle at wrong place when you click reply
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 Reporter:  nhuja                 |       Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)          |      Status:  reopened
 Priority:  normal                |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Comments              |     Version:  2.7
 Severity:  normal                |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch needs-      |     Focuses:  accessibility, javascript
  testing                         |
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Comment (by afercia):

 Replying to [comment:12 jorbin]:
 > ... add some screen-reader only text to {{{.form-allowed-tags}}} which
 is the aria-describedby for the comment field that let users know there
 are X fields in total ...
 Hi Jorbin, found there's already a proposal to remove the allowed tags by
 default, see #30157 and looks like there's some consensus about that, see
 also the comments on [http://www.poststat.us/wordpress-comments/ the
 original post by Brian Krogsgard].

 Moreover, [ticket:30157#comment:3 as pointed out by kpdesign],
 `comment_notes_after` is often overridden by themes/plugins to provide a
 completely different text (e.g. comment policy, whatever), so there's no
 guarantee it will convey a real description or effective instructions
 about the form.

 Generally speaking, I would recommend to ignore for a while our personal
 opinions, muscle memory, habits, and actually test this using only the
 keyboard and also testing with a screen reader. In both cases, you will
 probably notice the current tab order is not ideal because the logical
 structure of the form is not ideal.

 Replying to [comment:7 nacin]:
 > in terms of usability, when you hit "Reply" the first thing you want to
 do is type your comment, not enter your name.

 Hi Nacin, got your point. IMHO, If you want a specific form field to be
 filled first, then it should be the first field in the form in the first
 place. Moving focus is just a workaround and in most cases it will
 introduce usability bugs rather than solving them.

 Consider for example Jetpack comments module, which already makes the
 textarea the first field in the form, and it does that for a good reason.
 Additional fields should come after the textarea, if and when they're
 needed.

 I really don't know if there are strong arguments against changing the
 fields order, but that seems to me the best solution. Would really
 appreciate any thoughts and feedback.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/29974#comment:17>
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