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Rework 2.1.4 Character Key Shortcut understanding - #5336

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patrickhlauke-character-key-shortcuts-rework
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Rework 2.1.4 Character Key Shortcut understanding#5336
patrickhlauke wants to merge 23 commits into
mainfrom
patrickhlauke-character-key-shortcuts-rework

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@patrickhlauke

@patrickhlauke patrickhlauke commented Aug 27, 2026

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  • expand the focus to not be primarily about speech users
  • expand the speech input explainer to match reality a bit better
  • new section about keyboard use with screen readers
  • remove the outdated resources section - in particular, the links to the two context-less youtube videos (with low audio and video quality) that demonstrate the issue with Talon on sites that have since been changed
  • add working example - key event logger

Stretch goals (to discuss with TF):

  • record video demonstrating voice control/speech use on working example
  • record video demonstating SR+keyboard use on working example

Closes #953

* expand the focus to not be primarily about speech users
* expand the speech input explainer to match reality a bit better
* remove the outdated resources section
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@patrickhlauke patrickhlauke self-assigned this Aug 27, 2026
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patrickhlauke force-pushed the patrickhlauke-character-key-shortcuts-rework branch from 94f67f4 to 2942012 Compare September 1, 2026 14:31
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patrickhlauke marked this pull request as ready for review September 2, 2026 13:36
@patrickhlauke patrickhlauke moved this from In progress to Drafted in WCAG 2.x Sep 2, 2026
<p>A user interacting with a web page or web app that doesn't use single-character shortcuts doesn't have this problem. Inadvertent strings of characters from the speech application are not interpreted as shortcuts if a modifier key is required. A speech user filling in a text input form may find that a phrase that is accidentally picked up by the speech microphone results in stray text being entered into the field, but that is easily seen and undone. The Resources section of this page contains links to videos demonstrating these types of issues.</p>
<p>Speech input users generally work in a single mode where they can use a mix of dictation and speech commands. The user knows to pause before and after commands, and commands are usually at least two words long. So, for instance, a user might say a bit of dictation, such as "the small boat", then pause, and say a command to delete that dictation, such as "Delete Line". In contrast, if the user were to say the two phrases together without a pause, the whole phrase would come out as dictation (i.e., "the small boat delete line").</p>
<p>In most cases, voice control/speech recognition software is "context-aware" – speech is not interpreted as dictation, unless focus is on a form control or field that accepts keyboard input. Otherwise, speech is only interpreted as a command. In addition, even when focus is inside a form control or field that accepts keyboard input, dictation does not generate "faked" synthetic key presses – the spoken text is generally injected directly into the relevant form control/field. Synthetic key presses only happen when a user gives an explicit command, such as "Press X key".</p>
<p>However, there are some voice control/speech recognition programs (such as <a href="https://talonvoice.com/">Talon Voice</a>) that are not "context-aware". All speech is interpreted as either a command or dictation, regardless of where the current focus is. In addition, saying certain keywords is interpreted by some programs as a shorthand for the "Press … key" command, leading to potential unintentional single key presses. Critically, programs that are not "context-aware" may also turn dictation into synthetic key presses, meaning that an unintentionally spoken word can become a sequence of single-key commands if the cursor focus happens to be in the wrong place. Character key shortcuts will be problematic for users of these non-context-aware programs.</p>

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Reference to Talon Voice: How long will that be valid? Leave out brand name?

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the issue here is that it seems Talon is pretty much the only tool out there that behaves this way it seems...this is a way to salvage the whole voice angle, in my view, as none of the other voice control/voice access tools commonly used now have the problem this SC purports to solve...

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I agree with Detlev, I would not get as far as naming a specific software here

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Co-authored-by: Baldino Morelli <baldino.morelli@usablenet.com>
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patrickhlauke and others added 4 commits September 4, 2026 16:47
Co-authored-by: Alastair Campbell <ac@alastc.com>
Co-authored-by: Kenneth G. Franqueiro <kfranqueiro@users.noreply.github.com>
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Examples for SC 2.1.4 too faint - difficult to discern

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