[Nfbktad] Firefox and JAWS

[Slery]

Gee, I wonder if NVDA will have the same problem since apparently JAWS and
its companions are the only thing blind people use
Cindy


On October 25, 2017 6:23:07 PM Kevin Pearl via NFBKTAD <nfbktad at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> Important information for users of Mozilla Firefox
> Jonathan Mosen
> October 25, 2017 0
>
>
> Overview
>
> On November 14, Mozilla is expected to release a new version of its Firefox
> web browser. Firefox 57 represents such a significant technical and
> performance change that it’s going to be known as Firefox Quantum. Mozilla
> and mainstream reviewers of the beta code agree, the browser is much faster
> and more memory efficient.
>
> The reason why mainstream users will see such a significant speed increase
> with Firefox Quantum is that it is switching to a multiprocess methodology.
> Unfortunately, Mozilla in their switch to multiprocess for Firefox has
> chosen an accessibility approach in which each call for JAWS to obtain
> information takes orders of magnitude more time.  We are disappointed that
> Mozilla has not at this time adopted the highly performant approach that
> Google took with Chrome to increase security while at the same time
> allowing screen readers to access information at unparalleled speed without
> needing to make any changes.
>
> For now, we recommend switching to the Extended Support Release (ESR) of
> Firefox as work on the accessibility issues continues, because even when
> you are running assistive technology that supports Firefox Quantum,
> performance with Firefox will be much worse than you are used to. We’re
> working with Mozilla to improve the situation and are hopeful of further
> improvement.
>
> We appreciate that if you’re a Firefox user, it’s software you are likely
> to use many times every day. We want by way of this post to explain the
> situation as it currently stands and how we got here, plus what we’re doing
> about it and steps you can take so that in the short to medium term, you
> can use Firefox with the same degree of responsiveness you’re used to.
>
> Short-term Work-around
>
> For now, there is a way to avoid upgrading to Firefox Quantum while keeping
> your browser updated with important security fixes. You can install Firefox
> ESR (Extended Support Release). The Quantum changes are not scheduled to be
> rolled out to this release until the second quarter of 2018, by which time
> we hope the accessibility situation with Firefox Quantum will have improved.
>
> Compatibility
>
> While we cannot recommend Firefox Quantum at this time, we appreciate that
> some people may be curious and want to experiment with it. Firefox Quantum
> will not work in any fashion unless you are running the latest versions of
> JAWS 2018, JAWS 18, ZoomText 11 and MAGic 14. Previous versions of our
> assistive technology are not compatible with Firefox Quantum.
>
> To ensure Quantum will run at all, please ensure you are running the most
> current version of the above technologies. Please visit our downloads page
> for the latest software.
>
> If going current with your assistive technology isn’t possible, the Firefox
> ESR release discussed above will continue to work at this time with the
> technology you have. This will not always be the case, so if using Firefox
> is important to you, you should make plans to bring your technology
> up-to-date over the next few months.
>
> When it is installed, Firefox Quantum will be able to detect if older
> assistive technology is running that is not compatible. When this is the
> case, Firefox Quantum will alert you to this.
>
> Performance
>
> Unfortunately, even if you have an assistive technology product that has
> been updated to accommodate Mozilla’s new approach, you will notice a
> serious deterioration in performance. We would go as far as saying that at
> this point, you would not want to use Firefox Quantum for your daily
> browsing. Pages will take a long time to load, and navigating pages will be
> problematic.
>
> The reason for this is that Firefox’s implementation of multiprocess has
> caused a marked deterioration in the speed of communication between the
> browser and assistive technology.
>
> As our users who browse with Google Chrome, which has been using
> multiprocess for some time, can confirm, multiprocess browsers can provide
> a highly responsive experience comparable with what Firefox users are
> accustomed to, and it is still our hope that Mozilla might adopt a similar
> approach.
>
> The problem created by Firefox Quantum is a complex technical one, but we
> believe all our users are entitled to an explanation, so here’s our best
> shot. To give you a browsing experience that is the most flexible
> available, as well as being intuitive and accurate, JAWS behaves a bit like
> an impatient child on a long car journey. It asks Firefox many questions on
> a regular basis, including “are we there yet”. In the past, Firefox had no
> difficulty answering all our questions quickly and patiently, meaning we
> could always give you up-to-the-second information about what was happening
> on the web page. For our readers with some technical knowledge, we did this
> through calls to MSAA and it wasn’t necessary to ration those calls.
>
> Because of Firefox’s suboptimal implementation of multiprocess from an
> accessibility perspective, it’s as if the driver of the vehicle is tired.
> Firefox takes much longer to answer the important questions we need to ask
> it about what’s happening on the page. This manifests itself in a serious
> degradation of responsiveness that we fully accept is unpleasant.
>
> Resolving the situation
>
> We’re committed to our users being able to use whatever browsing solution
> works best for them. Ideally, that choice should be made based on
> feature-set, rather than accessibility considerations.
>
> To that end, we’re attempting to address the performance issues with
> Firefox Quantum in two respects.
>
> First, we’ll continue to work on minimising the calls we’re making to
> Firefox, the questions we’re asking if you will, ensuring they’re kept to a
> bare minimum without impacting on getting you the information you need.
>
> Second, we’ll continue to reach out and work with Mozilla, encouraging them
> to make refinements to their approach that will improve accessibility over
> time.
>
> Final thoughts on the future
>
> For those with a technical interest in the future of screen reading, we
> believe it is important to have discussions about how we can ensure that
> we’re responding to the changing, more dynamic nature of the web, while
> never losing sight of giving users the great experience they’ve come to
> expect from JAWS.
>
> We want to acknowledge Marco Zehe’s thoughtful post “Rethinking Web
> Accessibility on Windows.”  The approach Marco outlined is functionally
> what we’ve already done to support Microsoft Edge, because of similar
> performance issues that would be readily apparent with that browser had we
> tried to have a virtual buffer. Yet in Edge, we have retained where
> possible the current document-based paradigm, which works well on most
> pages and which provides users with a functional, proven, familiar experience.
>
> We may conclude that we need to make that switch for Firefox as well to get
> performance back up to pre-Quantum levels, but we believe that the virtual
> buffer offers an opportunity for JAWS to innovate with features like
> Flexible Web that would be difficult or slow if most information gathering
> and navigating is left to the browser. Flexible web is a powerful feature,
> used by our customers to save time and be productive in environments that
> would otherwise be less efficient. JAWS is about more than accessibility,
> it’s about efficiency, productivity and the user experience.
>
> Since Chrome has proven that multiprocess, virtual buffers, and screen
> reader performance can happily coexist, we see advantages to ensuring that
> virtual buffers continue to operate efficiently.
>
> We will continue to update you via this blog and FSCast regarding the
> status of Firefox Quantum.
>
>
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