Upgrade StorageClassic mode in Word citations was much more accessible for screen reader user—can we bring it back?
As a screen reader user, I found the classic mode much more intuitive and easier to navigate compared to the current interface. The layout was clearer and made it straightforward to move between fields without confusion.
One specific example is when inserting citations in Chicago style. In classic mode, there was a clear “page locator” field where I could manually enter page numbers. This is essential when citing specific pages, and it was easy to find and use with a screen reader. In the current interface, this workflow feels less direct and harder to access non-visually.
Overall, the classic mode provided a more predictable and efficient experience. I’m curious if others feel the same, especially those using assistive technologies. Would it be possible to bring back the classic mode, or at least restore some of its key features in a more accessible way?
One specific example is when inserting citations in Chicago style. In classic mode, there was a clear “page locator” field where I could manually enter page numbers. This is essential when citing specific pages, and it was easy to find and use with a screen reader. In the current interface, this workflow feels less direct and harder to access non-visually.
Overall, the classic mode provided a more predictable and efficient experience. I’m curious if others feel the same, especially those using assistive technologies. Would it be possible to bring back the classic mode, or at least restore some of its key features in a more accessible way?
To add a page number, you can just enter the page number in the search field after selecting an item and then press Enter/Return to insert the citation. Or, if you want to do it via the citation popup, it's just left-arrow to move focus back to the citation and down-arrow to open the citation popup and put you in the locator field.
You can also navigate most of the dialog (e.g., to choose an item) with just arrow keys. The whole thing is designed to be extremely quick to use via the keyboard.
There should be built-in screen-reader guidance in the popup. If you're not hearing that, or not hearing enough of it, let us know what screen reader you're using and what parts were unclear.
For context, I’m using NVDA as my screen reader.
I’ve figured it out now. I actually came across another discussion explaining how to access the citation popup, but I couldn’t work out how to reach it using a screen reader. I tried using Tab, Shift+F10, and Alt, but none of those worked for me.
It turns out the method you described is exactly what I was missing. Thanks again for pointing it out—it really helped.
As a small suggestion, it would be really helpful to have keyboard shortcuts to jump between the main areas in the citation dialog—such as between the collections (tree view) and the items list. Right now, I need to rely on Tab and Shift+Tab, which can be a bit cumbersome.
A similar shortcut approach would also be very useful in the Zotero main window—for example, like the existing shortcut to focus the collections tree view, and another one to quickly move focus to the items list (e.g., something like Ctrl+Shift+J). Perhaps shortcuts like Alt + Up/Down Arrow could also be considered to move between these main areas more efficiently.
If there’s already a better approach for this that I may have missed, I’d be glad to learn about it.
I realize my earlier message wasn’t very clear, sorry about that. I’m familiar with Ctrl+Shift+L for the collections tree, and was wondering if there is, or could be, a similar shortcut in the main window for the items tree view.
I completely understand the use case for shortcuts to navigate between the components in the main Zotero window - there are a lot of elements, so it can take a lot of Tabs to get from one place to another.
Citation dialog in library mode has 6 tab stops total: search area, selected/open/cited items section, collections list, items tree table, dialog mode and layout switch buttons. From the search field, it takes 2 Tabs to get to collections list if there are any selected/open/cited items. If there are none, it's just a single Tab.
With this, how does Ctrl+Shift+L help, if in most cases it would require more keypresses than if you were to navigate via Tab? Is it because the outcome of where the focus goes would be more predictable?
With Tab navigation, the focus order can change depending on the dialog state (for example, whether there are cited items or not). So even if it only takes 1–2 Tabs, I still need to listen through intermediate elements before reaching the section I actually want. Over time, especially when inserting many citations, that adds a bit of cognitive load and slows down navigation in practice.
A direct shortcut feels easier because I immediately know where the focus will land, regardless of the current state of the dialog. So for me, the benefit is more about consistency and orientation rather than saving keystrokes.
That said, this may also just be a matter of adjustment to the new mode and navigation flow. I’m still getting used to it.