hCaptcha is unaccessible, why claim otherwise?

This thread was (is?) going to automatically close in 2 days, so I thought it might be time for a status update. All of my complaints have been fixed

I’m surprised at how accessible it is now. Not only is it completely navigable by keyboard every element reads properly to a screen reader. On top of that the interface hints about accessibility options on certain links. Furthermore the sign up interface is MUCH more understandable and asks for less information when signing up (just an email now!) It explains cookies to you and some common browser issues too. That’s above and beyond and I’m really impressed and grateful.

I do have a few major issues:

  • The CAPTCHA popup closes if you don’t give it input. It’s annoying and doesn’t seem to serve much purpose?
  • It’s unclear how to close the CAPTCHA menu. There’s no exit button, and I’m not informed you can close it by pressing ESC. People using only keyboard navigation may get be unable to close it
  • The focus element upon opening is the first CAPTCHA selectable element. You have to tab a lot before you can find/hear the info menu. Maybe it would be good to mimic’s reCAPTCHA’s setup where it focuses you on ‘audio challenge’ but instead it could be ‘accessibility options’ that just links you to the page without having to go through the info menu
  • The info dialog’s info text sometimes doesn’t speak to the screen reader or the hcaptcha.com link
  • The info dialog’s feedback menu doesn’t explain what the options are
  • The info dialog’s feedback checkboxes don’t show any indication of focus

I have some minor issues too:

  • The middle hCaptcha logo at the bottom of the CAPTCHA is unselectable even though you can select it with a mouse. I’m not sure if this is an issue?
  • The info dialog has a focusable empty line after tabbing past the close button
  • The info dialog’s X button focus highlight/ring is very difficult to see
  • The info dialog lets you focus the info text and the ‘Having a problem’ text even though they aren’t clickable
  • The info dialog’s feedback lets you focus the entire thing but selecting it just selects the ‘Too difficult’ checkbox

But to stress, it is now possible to use the CAPTCHA with a keyboard and/or a screen reader. And it’s also extremely good to know that hCaptcha cares about accessibility and has shown this by fixing accessibility bugs. Thank you!

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