editor tab decoration/hover info is not discoverable for screen reader users

[meganrogge]

On hover of an editor tab, one can learn information about the editor, for example: ~/Repos/vscode/src/vs/workbench/contrib/chat/browser/chatEditing/chatEditingActions.ts • 3 problems in this file • Modified

It appears this info is included on the tab's aria-label but is never read by the screen reader as the editor gets focus.

I believe including this in the editor's aria label would be annoying and too verbose. We should make this information readable/triggerable. I'm wondering about a new window.title variable as I know screen reader users focus the window title for other info.

Thoughts @jooyoungseo and @rperez030?

I realized this because for files that have copilot edits, we include the following: ~/Repos/vscode-extension-samples/terminal-sample/src/extension.ts • Pending changes from chat • 6 problems in this file but it's not screen reader discoverable at the moment.

cc @joyceerhl, @jrieken, @isidorn

[rperez030]

Using the window title sounds like a good approach to me, given that the information is appended at the end of the title and that it updates properly as keyboard focus moves between tabs. I'm still not sure that it truly solves the problem, since the title bar is only announced when the editor receives focus. In other words, it is only read when focus moves between applications. Maybe combining that with a proactive screen reader notification when the file gets focused for the first time? It may also be helpful to add a note about that in the accessibility help for the editor. I think we'll have to experiment a bit to find the optimal flow.