JAWS announces wrong column header info after spanned cell

[aardrian]

Summary

In a table where a row header spans multiple columns, cells in that row that follow the row header announce the column header for the wrong column. They also announce all the row headers from that incorrect column, and the wrong column position.

1. Open JAWS 2021 and Firefox.
2. Go to https://cdpn.io/aardrian/debug/bGoeqdR
3. Navigate to any of the first 6 tables.
4. Navigate to either the Sub-Total, Shipping, or Grand Total cells (which are row headers).
5. Navigate one cell to the right, to the cell in the Total column (which is the last column).
6. Note the announcement.

Expected result

Announce the Total column header and the correct column position (5 for most of the tables). Essentially this:

Total, free, column 5

Actual result

JAWS announces the Description column header, and then the contents of each cell in the column (which are also row headers). Then it announces "column 2" (which is not the current column).

That means if I navigate from Shipping (which is the spanning row header) into the Total column (which is column 5 in most tables in the example) I hear:

Description Pudding A new set of steak knives Sand, free, column 2

Video and captions:

• https://adrianroselli.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/cart-table_JAWS-Firefox.mp4
• https://adrianroselli.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/cart-table_JAWS-Firefox.vtt

Example

• https://cdpn.io/aardrian/debug/bGoeqdR
• https://codepen.io/aardrian/pen/bGoeqdR (editable view)

Additional Information

This problem does not occur in NVDA/Firefox.

JAWS version and build number

• JAWS 2021.2197.12

Operating System and version

• Windows 10

Browser and version:

• Firefox 94–96

[JAWS-test]

in Chrome with JAWS two (minor) problems also occur in the first example:

• the column 5 is output as column 2 (for the last 3 rows containing only the first and last column).
• when navigating up or down in the last column, each row header is output four times for the rows with spanned cells (because the row header is in a cell that spans 4 columns)

[aardrian]

1. Yup, that is covered in this issue:
   a. Noted in summary: "...and the wrong column position."
   b. And in actual result: "Then it announces 'column 2' (which is not the current column)."
   c. And alluded to in the expected result: "...and the correct column position..."

2. Not unique to JAWS: Chromium Issue 1290375: Screen readers announce spanning row header as many times as columns it spans

[JAWS-test]

@aardrian I only added that because you wrote:

This problem does not occur in NVDA/Firefox nor JAWS/Chrome.

[aardrian]

Oops, copy pasta error because I was filing multiple issues today. Fixed. Either way, the multiple row header announcement appears to be a Chrome issue.

[aardrian]

Still an issue in JAWS 2024.