ARIA Live Region Tests

This page has three groups of tests. In each group, the tests are identical other than the live region attribute (aria-live="assertive", aria-live="polite", and role="alert"). The observations for each group of tests is presented immediately after that group. This page also includes a link or two for testing purposes.

live-region="assertive"

Region 1: Changing Text

This content may change.

Change Region 1

Region 2: Changing Text, with aria-atomic="true"

This content may change.

Change Region 2

Region 3: Changing Image, with aria-atomic="true"

Change Region 3

Region 4: Text written to a previously empty region

Change Region 4

Region 5: A hidden region is made visible

This content was hidden, but is now visible.

Change Region 5

Observations

• JAWS 17 does not announce any changes on this page in Firefox.
• NVDA in Firefox announces all changes except #5 (a hidden region made visible)

live-region="polite"

Region 1: Changing Text

This content may change.

Change Region 1

Region 2: Changing Text, with aria-atomic="true"

This content may change.

Change Region 2

Region 3: Changing Image, with aria-atomic="true"

Change Region 3

Region 4: Text written to a previously empty region

Change Region 4

Region 5: A hidden region is made visible

This content was hidden, but is now visible.

Change Region 5

Observations

• NVDA in Firefox: Same results as when aria-live="assertive"

role="alert"

Region 1: Changing Text

This content may change.

Change Region 1

Region 2: Changing Text, with aria-atomic="true"

This content may change.

Change Region 2

Region 3: Changing Image, with aria-atomic="true"

Change Region 3

Region 4: Text written to a previously empty region

Change Region 4

Region 5: A hidden region is made visible

This content was hidden, but is now visible.

Change Region 5

Observations

• NVDA in Firefox: Same results as other tests

Conclusions

• NVDA 2016.1 in IE 11 handles 100% of examples.
• NVDA in Firefox 46 handles all examples except #5 (a hidden region is made visible).
• JAWS 17 in IE11 handles all examples except #3 (change to alt text) and #5 (a hidden region is made visible). Results are the same for all three coding methods.
• JAWS 17 in Firefox 46 handles all examples except #3, including #5.
• JAWS 17 in Firefox 46 on Windows 10 on Hadi's Toshiba laptop does read #5 (but not #3)
• NVDA in Chrome on Windows 10 reads everything but Region #5.

Previous Test Results (Summary)

• JAWS 14, NVDA 2013.2, VoiceOver on Mountain Lion, and ChromeVox 1.31 all support changing text within a live region.
• Window-Eyes 8.3 does not appear to support live regions.
• VoiceOver (tested on Mountain Lion) is the only screen reader that announces changes to alt text within a live region.
• VoiceOver on iOS (6) reads all example live regions, but in Region 3, which contains an <em> element, it only reads the changed text after the closing </em>. This would seem to be a bug.