GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 746665
Tab bar should not be focusable
Last modified: 2016-03-04 20:06:28 UTC
Originally reported at https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=663253 This behavior has always bothered me, as I see no use in focusing the tab label. It's just a pain when I accidentally do it. With the upgrade to Ubuntu Vivid (beta) it became worse: the focused tab label looks exactly the same as the unfocused one. So it doesn't even give you a clue why typing characters doesn't work. Note: gedit doesn't let you focus the tabs either.
Just for reference: Vivid theme bugreport: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-themes/+bug/1435765
Created attachment 300200 [details] [review] notebook: Don't let the keyboard focus enter from the tab label
Works for me, thanks a lot! :)
Review of attachment 300200 [details] [review]: With that changed, ok to commit. ::: src/terminal-notebook.c @@ +345,3 @@ + + child = gtk_notebook_get_nth_page (notebook, current_page); + screen = terminal_screen_container_get_screen (TERMINAL_SCREEN_CONTAINER (child)); All of the above can be replaced by just a call to terminal_notebook_get_active_screen() (or terminal_mdi_container_get_active_screen()).
Just to answer the 'whats the use of this' question: Accessibility tools such as orca rely on being able to focus all relevant text in the ui, so it can be read.
Currently the tab label can't be focused by keyboard, only by mouse. This could also be an accessibility problem for some people, although at different area. Are there people who need both a screen reader and keyboard navigation? Also, there's no tab if only a single terminal is opened. Is there a way to read out the window's title? If not, do some people potentially open a second tab purely as a workaround to make a tab appear so that the title can be read? I'd like to understand if this change causes an actual regression for some people who require a11y, and if so then what should we do... Hopefully the window title can be read out easily, and then that (along with e.g. Ctrl+PageUp to switch tab) is good enough.
> Are there people who need both a screen reader and keyboard navigation? Okay, I should have thought about it before asking the question. Those with bad sight probably have problem seeing the mouse pointer too, so yes, it's a valid scenario.
(In reply to Egmont Koblinger from comment #6) > Hopefully the window title can be read out easily, and then that (along with > e.g. Ctrl+PageUp to switch tab) is good enough. Interestingly, gedit doesn't let you use Ctrl+PgUp/Dn to switch tabs. Probably it should.
So gedit uses alt+ctrl+pgup/pgdn (because ctrl+pgup/pgdn is needed by the text view) and alt+<n> for switching tabs, and Orca is still able to read the tab title.
Created attachment 300270 [details] [review] notebook: Don't let the keyboard focus enter from the tab label
I played with gnome-terminal a bit more, and I don't see the loss in accessibility. Earlier, if you were not using a menu, you could only move the keyboard focus to the tab label by clicking on it. So, it was not ideal with respect to keyboard navigation, anyway. As for the screen reader, it wasn't as if Orca was reading the labels on all the tabs when you switched to a gnome-terminal window. It was only reading them when you moved through tabs, and it still does that now. Or am I missing something?
lets bring in the experts!
(In reply to Egmont Koblinger from comment #6) > Are there people who need both a screen reader and keyboard navigation? key nav is also used by gnome shell magnifier users so this would probably be relevant to their needs as well as those of screenreader users.
(In reply to Debarshi Ray from comment #11) > Or am I missing something? I haven't played with orca yet, but I also have the feeling that the current change probably doesn't bring any a11y regression. Whether the current situation is good enough is another question.
Any objections? I'd really like to submit this patch. If there's any a11y issue arising, we can still think about how to resolve that (worst case: revert this patch, but at least we know where we stand).
Comment on attachment 300270 [details] [review] notebook: Don't let the keyboard focus enter from the tab label Master only, please.
Sure. Committed.
FYI: No regression was reported for 5 months now, so (as approved by Christian) I've backported the change to 3-18.
*** Bug 761800 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***