When to use Numbered Lists in VoiceOver Accessibility

Question

Created Oct ’24

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When would it be a good idea to utilize numbered lists with VoiceOver accessibility. As an example, for tab bars it will read about "2 of 5".

In speaking with an Accessibility engineer at WWDC this year, the said that its good practice, but we ran out of time in the call to dig further deeper. When or how do you know when you should read out the item count "2 of 5".

It makes sense to me in say a tab group or a chip group, but I don't see it being good in say potentially a UITableView with potentially a various number of sections of which each section itself can include multiple cells.

I've had trouble finding additional guidance on this topic, if anyone can provide recommendations or their thoughts, that would be great.

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Answer 1

Frameworks Engineer OP

Apple

Oct ’24

I'm glad you got a meaningful conversation out of the WWDC lab session!

I agree with your examples, that in something like a table view, it would be unnecessary and too verbose to list. But in other limited contexts, it makes a little more sense, for example I believe the numbered list is spoken for Segmented Controls, Page Controls, items where at a glance it's easy for a sighted person to understand the "bounds" or "limit" that is otherwise hard to communicate via VoiceOver.

Do you have any specific examples of items in your UI that you are considering speaking this for?

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Answer 2

JohnC2 OP

Oct ’24

Yes, say an informational list that may present data such as a user's contact info in a "stack" or grid, alongside other types of list items.

Some folks will also say that VoiceOver should announce "List Start" and "List End", which to me seems unnecessary and redundant because iOS will provide haptic / sound feedback when you reach the end of the list, and excessive or "chatty" VoiceOver announcements I know can be annoying.

I always use the screen curtain to test at the end of the day, and so if I find something annoying or difficult to use with the screen curtain, I know others will also feel similar. However, sometimes Accessibility Auditors will insist on putting such announcements such as "List Start/End".

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Answer 3

Frameworks Engineer OP

Apple

Oct ’24

List Start / End is not a common paradigm in iOS based on my experience. It may be different for web, or for Mac, but I feel that the iOS experience you design will best serve users when it is consistent with the rest of the system or platform.

Exploring the first party Contacts app and its VoiceOver experience might be helpful for you to see what patterns you can align with, but obviously you are free to expand and detail the experience in your own app as you wish! :) Based on your example (and without seeing the full context) I would say not having a numbered list is fine but listening to your users is always a good idea, if you happen to be getting a lot of feedback about this.

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