[BETA] EuiLiveAnnouncer

[mgadewoll]

Overview

EuiLiveAnnouncer originates from the overall request to support screen reader announcements on mount of components, e.g. as result of user interactions. It has been introduced in #8916 and is currently in beta to test, compare and adjust the behavior in comparison to the existing EuiScreenReaderLive component.

We introduced EuiLiveAnnouncer as alternative to EuiScreenReaderLive with the option to potentially replace EuiScreenReaderLive with EuiLiveAnnouncer in the future.

Feature Description

📖 EuiLiveAnnouncer is documented here.

EuiLiveAnnouncer aims to provide support for announcements on mount, e.g. when showing UI based on user interaction. Additionally EuiLiveAnnouncer proposes a different approach to handling aria-live announcements to improve the output support and consistency across screen reader and browser combinations.

Component comparison

Feature	EuiLiveAnnouncer	EuiScreenReaderLive
Auto-clear message	Yes, after configurable timeout (clearAfterMs)	No
Announce on mount	Yes	No
Announce on message change	Yes	Yes
Focus on message change	No (could be added)	Yes (focusRegionOnTextChange prop)
Handles rapid updates	Yes	Yes
Output consistency	High	Medium
API stability	Beta/experimental	Stable

Next Steps

To facilitate the transition, we should:

• Monitor usage in EuiCallOut with announceOnMount
• Monitor incoming requests/issues around live announcements and update to EuiLiveAnnouncer where feasible/fitting
• Monitor incoming bugs for EuiLiveAnnouncer, EuiScreenReaderLive and EuiCallOut

Additional Context (optional)