{"action":"created","issue":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/phetsims/scenery/issues/538","repository_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/phetsims/scenery","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/phetsims/scenery/issues/538/labels{/name}","comments_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/phetsims/scenery/issues/538/comments","events_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/phetsims/scenery/issues/538/events","html_url":"https://github.com/phetsims/scenery/issues/538","id":142450026,"number":538,"title":"Create our own Screen Reader","user":{"login":"samreid","id":679486,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/679486?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/samreid","html_url":"https://github.com/samreid","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/samreid/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/samreid/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/samreid/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/samreid/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/samreid/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/samreid/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/samreid/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/samreid/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/samreid/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"labels":[{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/phetsims/scenery/labels/dev:a11y","name":"dev:a11y","color":"008080"}],"state":"open","locked":false,"assignee":{"login":"jessegreenberg","id":6396244,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/6396244?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg","html_url":"https://github.com/jessegreenberg","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"milestone":null,"comments":2,"created_at":"2016-03-21T19:41:53Z","updated_at":"2016-04-21T22:37:33Z","closed_at":null,"body":"From https://github.com/phetsims/scenery-phet/issues/227\r\n\r\nFrom phetsims/balloons-and-static-electricity#134 we would like to display accessible text on the screen (possibly outside of the sim iframe), we will need to be able to navigate a virtual cursor across non-focusable (but accessible) items.\r\n\r\n@jessegreenberg and I decided to work on this in master since (a) we don't know how long this code will live and (b) to simplify branch management, since this could have changes in joist, scenery and balloons-and-static-electricity (the latter of which is already in a branch.)"},"comment":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/phetsims/scenery/issues/comments/213145859","html_url":"https://github.com/phetsims/scenery/issues/538#issuecomment-213145859","issue_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/phetsims/scenery/issues/538","id":213145859,"user":{"login":"jessegreenberg","id":6396244,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/6396244?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg","html_url":"https://github.com/jessegreenberg","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jessegreenberg/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"created_at":"2016-04-21T22:37:33Z","updated_at":"2016-04-21T22:37:33Z","body":"The [Web Speech API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Speech_API) is pretty great, much more powerful than I initially thought.  What if we created a prototype screen reader with the web speech API that could be used as an alternative to other Assistive technologies?  The prototype could potentially behave much like the version in https://github.com/phetsims/scenery/issues/538#issuecomment-201066178 but with additional features and navigation strategies so that it behaves much like other screen readers for the web.  There are downsides to this, but the benefits could be remarkable for Web Accessibility.\r\n\r\n**Benefits**\r\n - The reader would work directly with the Parallel DOM, exactly like any other screen reader\r\n  - It could be turned off at any time if the user would rather use another AT\r\n - Could work exactly like a screen reader but *better* in the context of PhET sims\r\n - Potentially gives us leverage with other accessibility groups if we determine new features or standards that would be beneficial for accessible interactives\r\n - Allows us to pursue testing on a much more reliable platform while we discuss infrastructure issues with other accessibility groups\r\n - We can listen this reader output directly so the output text can be manipulated in any way we desire\r\n\r\n**Disadvantages**\r\n - This would be a prototype, not a production solution.  The Web Speech API is a work in progress and is *only supported in Chrome*, with some support from Firefox with the right user settings\r\n - We need to investigate how well it performs, not yet a guarantee that performance/behavior is sufficient. "}}