support for disabled buttons for screen readers

[jensvannerum]

References

Add references/links to any related issues or PRs. These may include:

• Fixes The log in button is not fully accessible to users using a screen reader #3249
• 8.x version in [Port dspace-8_x] support for disabled buttons for screen readers #3269
• 7.x version in [Port dspace-7_x] support for disabled buttons for screen readers #3270

Description

Replaced the html disabled attribute with a custom directive which has the same effect.
The directive is however friendly for screen readers using aria attributes and being focusable with keyboard navigation

Instructions for Reviewers

• Go to any page that uses a disabled state (e.g login page) and verify behaviour is as expected.
• Verify the aria-disabled attribute is present on the disabled element for the screen reader

Checklist

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However, reviewers may request that you complete any actions in this list if you have not done so. If you are unsure about an item in the checklist, don't hesitate to ask. We're here to help!

• My PR is created against the main branch of code (unless it is a backport or is fixing an issue specific to an older branch).
• My PR is small in size (e.g. less than 1,000 lines of code, not including comments & specs/tests), or I have provided reasons as to why that's not possible.
• My PR passes ESLint validation using yarn lint
• My PR doesn't introduce circular dependencies (verified via yarn check-circ-deps)
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• My PR aligns with Accessibility guidelines if it makes changes to the user interface.
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[github-actions]

Hi @jensvannerum,
Conflicts have been detected against the base branch.
Please resolve these conflicts as soon as you can. Thanks!

[tdonohue]

@jensvannerum : We gave this a group review in our Developer Meeting today. Overall the feedback was positive, but I've added a few notes inline on issues found during the meeting (and just after the meeting as I scanned it again).

Also noted in the meeting is that we should add a note to our Accessibility documentation guidelines about this new dsDisabled directive (and to avoid using disabled). We have a page with very basic notes in both the 7.x and 8.x docs:

• 7.x docs: https://wiki.lyrasis.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=313851976#UserInterfaceDesignPrinciples&Accessibility-UserInterfaceAccessibilityGuidelines
• 8.x docs: https://wiki.lyrasis.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=315720834#UserInterfaceDesignPrinciples&Accessibility-UserInterfaceAccessibilityGuidelines

[jensvannerum]

@tdonohue Thanks for the feedback, I feel like I addressed all of it.

Note that I also reduced the scope of this PR a little, the directive is currently only present on buttons.
I did this because developers might otherwise expect this to replace the disabled attribute of HTML everywhere, which isn't the case yet. It would disable keystrokes and mouse clicks but wouldn't have the same "disabled look" as the actual HTML attribute gives it (90% usage of the disabled attribute in DSpace is on button anyways so still a huge improvement for accessibility).

Backported changes to 8.x and 7.x PR's too

[github-actions]

Hi @jensvannerum,
Conflicts have been detected against the base branch.
Please resolve these conflicts as soon as you can. Thanks!

[tdonohue]

@jensvannerum : Is there any chance to get this PR (and the 8.x/7.x versions) updated soon, so that we might consider including them in 8.1 / 7.6.3? If not, no worries. Just noticing though that we previously ranked this high priority, and it'd be nice to therefore move forward quickly. If you have a chance, I'd be willing to give this a test/review once ready.

[tdonohue]

@jensvannerum : We talked about this in the Developers Meeting today. If you can find time to get the merge conflicts solved soon, then both @atarix83 and I are willing to test & review this in the hopes we can include it in 8.1 / 7.6.3

[jensvannerum]

@tdonohue I fixed all conflicts for the PR (also for the 8.x and 7.x versions)

[tdonohue]

👍 Thanks @jensvannerum ! I gave this another review and test today. The code looks good, but I found a stray console.log we may want to remove (see below). I also verified this fixes #3249, and tested several other disabled buttons to verify this seems to be a global fix.

I also really appreciate the new lint rule to enforce this. That'll make it so much easier to ensure we don't accidentally forget to disable buttons using dsBtnDisabled.

I think this looks ready to merge, but I'd appreciate it if we can remove the console.log. I'll also give @atarix83 until at least the end of day on Monday to give it a final review (if he has time).

[jensvannerum]

Fixed last remaining issues in all versions of PR now @tdonohue, thanks for catching them (squashed commits).

Should be good to go now

[tdonohue]

Thanks @jensvannerum ! This looks good to me now!