ARIA and keyboard accessibility improvements

[shekharnwagh]

Summary

Improves command palette accessibility by tightening ARIA semantics, accessible names, screen-reader result feedback, loading state semantics, focus restoration, and keyboard behavior coverage.

Closes RSM-316

What changed

• Gives the command input a mode-specific accessible name: Search commands in command mode and Select <param> in parameter-selection mode.
• Keeps the longer Backspace hint in the placeholder instead of using it as the input's computed accessible name.
• Adds a polite status region for filtered command and option counts, including empty-result messaging.
• Suppresses result-count announcements while async route resolution is loading to avoid competing loading announcements.
• Marks the listbox as busy during async route resolution and keeps the loading progressbar exposed to assistive technology.
• Restores focus to the previously focused element when the palette closes after being opened with the hotkey.
• Expands test coverage for dialog, combobox, listbox, group, and option semantics; result-count announcements; loading state; focus restoration; arrow-key looping; Enter selection; Escape close; and parameter-selection labels.

Testing

• pnpm format:check
• pnpm lint
• pnpm test
• pnpm build
• Playground: opened the palette and verified the dialog, combobox, and listbox accessible names.
• Playground: filtered commands and verified the result-count status updates.

Notes

• Group accessible names are provided by cmdk's generated aria-labelledby wiring rather than literal aria-label attributes.
• Tab focus trapping was verified manually in the browser because jsdom does not implement real browser tab order. Unit tests cover focus restoration and keyboard behavior around the dialog.
• VoiceOver-specific behavior for announcing the initially highlighted option is intentionally left for a separate follow-up.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Improves the accessibility of the command palette by refining ARIA semantics/announcements, adding focus restoration on close, and expanding keyboard/ARIA test coverage.

Changes:

• Adds a live status region that announces filtered result counts and updates input accessible labeling for command vs param-selection modes.
• Adds focus restoration to the previously focused element when the palette closes.
• Marks the suggestions listbox as busy during async route resolution and expands related accessibility + keyboard behavior tests.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
src/commands.tsx	Adds result-count live region, dynamic input labeling/placeholder, listbox aria-busy, and focus restoration logic.
src/commands.test.tsx	Adds tests for focus restoration, ARIA roles/names, result-count announcements, looping arrow-key navigation, and loading/busy semantics.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Improves the command palette’s accessibility semantics and keyboard/focus behavior by refining ARIA labeling/announcements, exposing loading state to assistive tech, and adding tests to validate these behaviors.

Changes:

• Added a polite live region that announces filtered result counts (and suppresses announcements during loading/error states).
• Improved input accessible naming (mode-specific aria-label) and listbox loading semantics (aria-busy).
• Added tests covering ARIA roles/names, live announcements, loading state exposure, focus restoration, and keyboard looping behavior.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
src/commands.tsx	Adds result-count live region, improved ARIA labeling, listbox busy state, and focus restoration behavior.
src/commands.test.tsx	Expands coverage for accessibility semantics, result announcements, loading state, focus restoration, and keyboard navigation.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Improves accessibility of the command palette by refining ARIA semantics and labeling, adding screen-reader-friendly result-count feedback, improving loading/error announcement behavior, and ensuring focus is restored after closing.

Changes:

• Adds a polite status live region that announces filtered command/option result counts (and stays silent during async resolution and resolver errors).
• Improves accessible naming for the input based on mode (command search vs parameter selection) and keeps Backspace guidance in the placeholder instead of the computed name.
• Restores focus to the previously focused element when the palette closes, and expands vitest coverage for ARIA semantics + keyboard/focus behaviors.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

File	Description
src/commands.tsx	Adds result-count live region, mode-specific input labeling, listbox busy state, and focus restoration on close.
src/commands.test.tsx	Adds/expands tests for dialog/combobox/listbox semantics, live region announcements, loading/error silence, focus restore, and keyboard looping.

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