[#48413] - Atum Articles Editor / Cassiopeia: Calendar widget is not keyboard and screen reader accessible
- New
- Medium
- Build: 5.4-dev
- # 48413
Steps to reproduce the issue
NOTE: Accessibility backlog issue and work-in-progress. This issue has been opened to account for all the issues flagged in the initial Milestone 1a Audit Report. If this is a duplicate issue, it will be closed by the end of September 2026.
| Milestone 1a finding ID | M1a-021 |
|---|---|
| Backlog priority | High |
| Severity — carried from Milestone 1a | Serious |
| Implementation effort | High |
| Target milestone(s) | MS2b, MS3a, MS3b, MS5a, MS7b, MS8a, MS10 |
| WCAG 2.2 success criterion | 2.1.1 Keyboard; 2.4.3 Focus Order; 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value |
| Responsibility tag(s) from report | Development |
| Affected Joomla area/component | https://accessibility-project.joomla.org/results/Milestone-1a/milestone1/deliverable1/wcag-report#68e02fc5-3085-4923-985d-de183537dece |
| Affected user journey(s) | 09 – Backend Edit Form Pattern; 10 – Frontend User Forms |
| Source report/reference | Milestone 1a WCAG audit report |
| STF reporting reference | To be assigned |
| Issue owner | To be assigned |
| Status | Triage |
Audit finding
Calendar widget is not keyboard and screen reader accessible
User impact
Keyboard-only users and many assistive-technology users may be blocked from operating the interface or completing the task.
Remediation plan
Refactor the interaction so it is fully keyboard operable, uses correct semantics and states, preserves predictable focus movement, and avoids unexpected changes of context.
Steps to reproduce (Atum "Articles" example)
1. Open the Edit Article workflow in Atum and select the "Publishing" section's date picker widget.
2. Navigate dates and months using the keyboard.
3. Inspect focus, names, roles, states, and instructions with a screen reader.
4. Attempt to select a date and close the widget.
5. Observe missing semantics or keyboard operation.
Version
6.1
Expected result
An accessible calendar widget is implemented. Consider an established design pattern such as the following one from WAI APG: Date Picker Dialog Example.
Actual result
When setting the “Start Publishing”, “End Publishing”, and “Created Date” dates for an article, the date picker component is completely inaccessible by people using the keyboard and for screen reader users.
The keyboard focus stays in the input field with the date, and while some arrow key input is shown as changes in the date picker, the datepicker is not set up to be interacted with using the keyboard. For example, it is impossible to confirm a (visibly selected) date, or a time.
There is no feedback for screen reader users to know where they are in the calendar grid. The links for next year/month use links without href attributes, which makes them unfocusable.
The select boxes for hour and minute have no accessible names.
What device were you using? (eg, phone, laptop)
Desktop web
What web browser were you using? (eg, Chrome, Safari)
Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari
Assistive Technology?
VoiceOver, JAWS, NVDA
Additional Comments
No response
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a11y-audit-backlog
a11y-priority-serious (High)
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That's great, Brian, thanks for pointing this out. Makes sense to close this issue then.
this is outdated - it was fixed two weeks ago with #48286