In regard to the Tab pattern, do we need to try to accommodate mobile screen readers?

[mbgower]

The tab pattern provides keyboard guidance on how to allow for a deletable tab item via the Delete key (i.e., a tab shows an "X" which can be clicked on by a pointer user to delete that tab, and which is available via the Delete key)

Delete (Optional): If deletion is allowed, deletes (closes) the current tab element and its associated tab panel, sets focus on the tab following the tab that was closed, and optionally activates the newly focused tab. If there is not a tab that followed the tab that was deleted, e.g., the deleted tab was the right-most tab in a left-to-right horizontal tab list, sets focus on and optionally activates the tab that preceded the deleted tab. If the application allows all tabs to be deleted, and the user deletes the last remaining tab in the tab list, the application moves focus to another element that provides a logical work flow. As an alternative to Delete, or in addition to supporting Delete, the delete function is available in a context menu.

We have had a team ask how to make this accessible for a user of a mobile screen reader such as iOS VoiceOver, who is operating without a keyboard. Is it the author responsibility to provide a non-keyboard mechanism to carry out that delete function (and if so, how is it achieved when a tab item cannot contain a button)? Or is that something that Apple should solve, through its rotor?

This question does not apply only to this tab pattern. There are several other situations in the APG where Esc or Delete are the primary mechanism for carrying something out without a mouse, but a touch-based screen reader user would seem not to have those keypress functions available.

[mcking65]

this type of pattern is addressed by the new aria-actions property that should be in ARIA 1.4 and is a 2024 priority for the ARIA WG.

The APG TF is looking for an engineer who wants to be part of the team to build our first example that uses aria-actions. Both this tabs example and tree are strong candidates. Thank you for raising this idea.