Tab Skips over some buttons in Dialogue Boxes

[jmwmusic]

Issue type

UI bug

Bug description

In many places in MuseScore 4 dialogs, the various buttons in the dialogs are not accessible using the standard navigation method pressing the Tab key.
There are many examples, but the first a user will encounter is the New Score Wizard.
Also:
• Crash recovery dialog "The previous session quit unexpectedly", Tab only goes to the No button.
• Update available, Tab only goes to the Update Now button.
• Add bars dialog, Tab only goes to the OK button.
• Preferences dialogs, Tab only goes to the OK button.
• Confirm Quit dialog: Tab only goes to Don't save.
• ... and many more examples.

one that many screen reader users have been confused by is the export dialogue box. Tab will get you to the main drop down to choose the export method, but pressing tab again after selecting the method jumps to the export button and the screen reader is completely unaware there were further options (such as compression for xml or not) that have been missed. They are left thinking MuseScore just doesn't do these things and so don't go looking for further instructions on how to do it as it is very unusual screen reading behaviour for all actionable items in a dialogue box not to be discoverable with the Tab key. in effect it makes these other items invisible like putting them in white text on a white background, they are there but not going to be noticed without taking an unusual action to look for them.

Compare the standard system File Open and File Save As dialogs.

Steps to reproduce

1. From the File menu choose New, or press Ctrl+N.
   The New Score Wizard appears.
2. Tab around the first page of the wizard.
   Notice that only the Cancel button can be accessed.
   This gives the misleading impression that the user has not completed the options in the page and cannot progress.
3. Repeat, but fill in options before tabbing around.
   It is the same, only the Cancel button gets focus with Tab.

Expected behaviour:
Tab key should cycle through all the main controls in this and many other dialogs.

Actual behaviour: a combination of Tab and Arrows is required to reach some controls.

Screenshots/Screen recordings

No response

MuseScore Version

4.1

Regression

I don't know

Operating system

Windows 10 with NVDA

Additional context

No response

[MarcSabatella]

Note that this is by design, in general - MuseScore has adopted the modern hierarchical model with F6 / Tab / Cursor instead of just Tab. So you will need to get used to using all three methods in order to fully explore any given window. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. Probably there are some places where the hierarchy isn’t needed. There are a couple of other open issues regarding specific cases, like the New Score wizard.

[jmwmusic]

Yes I am aware that this is by design for many windows and panels to use the F6 system. That is why I have limited this to dialogue boxes. I know Edge, Word, etc are using the F6 and similar hierarchical design in some places, but it is I believe still non standard for dialogue boxes and without additional screen reader hints or wording definitely doesn't fall within guidelines for accessibility.

[paullovessearch]

I encountered this right away. New Score / Grand Staff / Next (Additional Score Information) / Click on Title / Enter a Title / TAB --> Proceeds to CANCEL

Continued presses of TAB then go to Key Signature, then back to Title - only those three controls are highlighted with the Tab key.

Basically, I expect to be able to enter the title, then hit TAB to enter the composer, but no! Seems very strange.

Oh, I see. I have to enter the down-arrow to sequence between boxes within a dialog box... hmmm....

Anyway, it does seem strange and non-intuitive. Every other form I've ever filled out would allow me to tab from Title to Composer and not just skip everything and go right to CANCEL.

And if you're tabbing through groups of controls, maybe it should go to DONE and not CANCEL?

Version OS: macOS 12.6, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 4.1.1-232071203, revision: github-musescore-musescore-e4d1ddf

[msviolafangirl]

I concur with everything that has been said here. It's not just in the new score wizard, it's also in the preferences dialog among other places. You have to use both tab and arrow keys to navigate through the different controls of each dialog. I'm used to it by now, but I can see how this is unintuitive for a lot of new users. Hierarchical navigation is great in some situations, but not others. I found out that one of the google summer of code suggested ideas was to rectify this sort of issue, but it didn't happen yet, so I think this is something worth fixing in the foreseeable future. https://musescore.org/en/node/344439

[jrbowden]

I also agree: the hierarchical model using F6 should only apply when there are large numbers of items, or perhaps distinct panels - such as in the main score writing screen.
For dialog boxes, it is very standard to use Tab to get to all controls. As @msviolafangirl said, I am mostly used to it now, but it does trip me up, and was very unintuitive when I started using MuseScore 4. Using a combination of Arrows and Tab will confuse many new users.
Note also that the non-standard navigation has also forced a non-standard use for combo boxes (pull down lists). You have to press Space/Enter to open them and then use Arrows to select your option, then Space/Enter again.
Ideally, you should just Arrow immediately and then Tab when the desired option is reached.

[iainhallam]

There are places in the UI where it seems on first look to be impossible to reach some fields with the keyboard. Select a note head, then open the appearance properties dropdown. "Leading space" is focused; the up and down arrows change the value, tab does nothing, left and right arrows move within the field, unless you've changed the value with the up and down arrows, in which case it seems the field container rather than the text is focused, when right arrow can move to the next field. F6 seems to do the same as tab, and Escape seems to play a role in making the focus be the field container rather than the text itself to activate the left and right arrows, but the minute you arrive in the next field, the text is focused again and the arrows are limited to moving through the text, rather than quickly moving through the fields, which seems to require Right, Esc, Right, Esc... on MuseScore 4.1.1.

"Keyboard users can use the Tab key or F6 to navigate between these UI regions via the keyboard. Within each region, navigation is performed with the arrow keys and Tab." (https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/user-interface) doesn't seem to me to explain what's needed.