JAWS Announces Current Page Twice in Breadcrumb Navigation

[Webhac]

Summary:

When using JAWS in reading mode with the arrow keys, the current page is announced twice when reading the breadcrumbs. This dual announcement confuses the user, making it unclear which page is actually being viewed.

Tools Used:

JAWS Version: 2025.2506.170
Browser: Chrome and Edge
OS: Windows 11

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Launch JAWS.
2. Navigate to https://getbootstrap.com/docs/5.3/components/breadcrumb/.
3. Activate JAWS's reading mode by using the down arrow key.
4. On the Bootstrap page, navigate to the third breadcrumb item, which is displayed as "Home / Library / Data."
5. Press the down arrow key once to read "Home."
6. After a brief pause by JAWS, press the down arrow key once to read "Library."
7. Following another brief pause by JAWS, press the down arrow key once to read "Data."

This sequence of actions leads to the issue where JAWS announces the current page twice when reading the breadcrumbs.

Notes:

• In this example, aria-current="page" is applied only to the last list item, "Data," which is semantically correct since it indicates the current page. The "Home" and "Library" items do not include this attribute.
• The CSS ::before pseudo-element is used for the separator ("/") that appears after the "Home" and "Library" list items.

Actual Result:

• When the JAWS user navigates to the first list item ("Home"), JAWS announces: "Link Home slash." This happens because JAWS picks up the ::before (separator) from the following list item.
• After a pause, when the user presses the arrow key, JAWS reads the second list item ("Library") as: "Link Library slash current page." In this case, JAWS picks up both the separator (::before) from the next list item and the aria-current attribute (applied on the subsequent item), even though "Library" itself does not have the aria-current attribute.
• After another pause, pressing the arrow key again brings the user to the third list item ("Data"), where JAWS correctly announces: "Data current page," followed by a pause.

These results indicate that JAWS is erroneously including content from adjacent items (such as the pseudo-element for the separator and the current page status attribute from the next list item) during navigation.

Expected Result:
When navigating to the breadcrumb, JAWS should announce each item separately without including extra characters or attributes from adjacent elements. The expected order of announcements should be:

• "Link Home"
• "Link Library"
• "Current page Data"

Thanks
Nalini