SftTabs/NET 3.0 includes built-in Windows UI Automation (UIA) support. Users who rely on Narrator, NVDA, JAWS or any other UIA-compatible assistive technology can read and navigate the control without the hosting application doing any work. There is no opt-in and no code change required.
What the screen reader sees:
| Element | Exposed as |
|---|---|
| Control type | Tab. The control reports its selected tab, so screen readers announce the current tab when the control receives the input focus. |
| Tabs | Each visible tab is a tab item with its text as the name, its position among the tabs ("2 of 5"), its selection state and its enabled state. A mnemonic defined in the tab's text is reported as the tab's access key, and the tab's tooltip text (TabClass.ToolTip property) as its help text. Hidden tabs are not exposed. |
| Tab close buttons | Each tab close button is a button named after its tab, for example "Close Settings". |
| Scroll buttons / Close, Minimize and Restore buttons | Exposed as buttons. A button is named by its tooltip text; a button without a tooltip text has a default name, such as "Scroll Left" or "Close". |
| Tab pages | The tab pages and the controls they host are regular Windows Forms controls, which are exposed to screen readers by Windows Forms. |
Screen readers can also select tabs, scroll a tab into view and click the buttons. These actions work like the equivalent mouse and keyboard actions, so the control's events, such as Switching, Switched and TabCloseButtonClicked, occur as usual.
Changes are reported to screen readers automatically: focus and selection changes, tabs added and removed, and changes to the text of tabs. The provider is created the first time a UI Automation client asks for it, so there is no overhead for applications whose users never run assistive technology.
What the application controls:
Dark mode and Windows High Contrast are independent accessibility settings. See Dark Mode and High Contrast.
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