I have some insensitive widgets in my application, which means that it’s not possible to select them using the keyboard while they are insensitive. Is there a way of allowing to select them, in order to make them “visible” to screen readers, while keeping them insensitive?
EDIT: I already tried adding “focusable” to the .ui file, but no dice.
If a widget is not sensitive, then it cannot receive focus; and if it cannot receive focus, then it cannot be accessible.
Remember that a screen reader allows non-sighted people to perceive your UI exactly like a sighted person would; it’s not a mechanism to work around your own UI. If a widget is not meant to be interacted with, then both sighted and non-sighted users won’t be able to interact with it.
I recommend rethinking your UI.
But when I mean “focusable” I mean “to be able to, using the keyboard, select it”, not to allow to activate it. It should be possible to “select it”, but pressing “Return” or “Space” should do nothing because it’s insensitive (exactly the same that I can put my mouse over an insensitive element, but clicking on it will do nothing, but things like tooltips will still appear), and Orca should specify that it is disabled, or not sensitive, or… whatever term is used. For blind people, the current behavior is the equivalent of making invisible any insensitive element: if a button becomes insensitive, a blind user can only know that by doing a full cycle and noticing that a button that they know that should be there isn’t listed.