For the past several days, I've noticed that Safari's down arrow behavior has changed.
When I read a web page, I typically use VO+right arrow to read each paragraph (or web page element). If the paragraph contains complex material, I have always used up or down arrow keys to read through the current paragraph one line at a time.
But the arrow key behavior changed a few weeks ago. Since that change, if I'm in the middle of an article and want to read a paragraph one line at a time, and I hit down arrow to do that, VoiceOver focus jumps to the top of the web page. I hear the first web page element, not the first line of the current paragraph. Worse, I've now lost my place in the article.
If I hit up arrow, I hear the "thunk" noise and focus stays where it is. It feels like some kind of weird quick nav behavior, but I verified quick nav is off.
Is anyone else seeing this? Is there an explanation for this new broken behavior?
I'm on MacOS 10.15.6 and my Safari version is 14.0 (15610.1.28.1.9, 15610).
Comments
Lines in web rotor
As a workaround, I added lines to the web rotor. This allows me to turn on quick nav and use down arrow to read a line at a time. However, VoiceOver seems to miss the first character of each line, therefore mispronouncing the first word of each line.
As a heavy braille user I am…
As a heavy braille user I am having a terrible time with this. Early in the year when I finally took the plunge and updated to macOS Catalina 10.15 I noticed a problem with the keyboard focus not following the VoiceOver cursor when panning on a braille display. My workaround was to press the down arrow key with Quick Navs off. But with this latest update that no longer works. Like you it just sends me back to the top of the screen. This focus issue seems to be getting worse with each update.
Alternate browser
I've been using Google Chrome as an alternate, but it shares some of the same issues, such as lines on web rotor missing the first character of a line, making me think that's a VoiceOver issue. And of course Chrome does not have a reader view, a feature of Safari I've become quite fond of.
This same topic is being discussed in greater detail in this other thread.
vo jumping to the top of the page
This problem is causing me many problems. I study language so I have to navigate a word or a letter at a time. This has become impossible even with quick nav. I've tried google chrome and firefox, and arrow keys are not working for me there either.