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Accessibility regression: Sidebar no longer contains headings, making screen reader navigation much less efficient #35660

Description

@Hekland-M

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.721.41059

What subscription do you have?

Plus

What platform is your computer?

Windows x64

What issue are you seeing?

The new ChatGPT desktop app is significantly more difficult to navigate with JAWS than ChatGPT Classic because the sidebar no longer has a clear heading structure.

In ChatGPT Classic, sections such as GPTs, chat history, and tools were organized with descriptive headings. This allowed JAWS users to quickly jump between sections using heading navigation, making the interface efficient and easy to use.

In the new app, these headings are no longer present. As a result, I have to manually navigate through every element in the sidebar before reaching the section I need. This makes even simple tasks much slower and more frustrating.

I recommend adding proper headings for the main sections of the sidebar, such as GPTs, chat history, and tools. Heading level 2 would provide a clear and consistent navigation structure without interfering with the heading hierarchy of the main conversation.

Overall, the new sidebar is much harder to navigate with JAWS than ChatGPT Classic and requires significantly more keystrokes to perform common tasks.

Feedback reference: no-active-thread-019fa4ae-3325-7ef3-a881-721f0374d12a

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Open the new ChatGPT desktop app on Windows.
  2. Navigate to the sidebar using JAWS.
  3. Attempt to navigate between sections such as GPTs, chat history, and tools using heading navigation.
  4. Notice that the sidebar does not contain headings, requiring manual navigation through every element instead.

What is the expected behavior?

The sidebar should contain proper headings for sections such as GPTs, chat history, and tools, allowing screen reader users to navigate quickly between them using heading navigation.

I would recommend using Heading level 2 for these sections, as this provides a clear and consistent structure without interfering with the heading hierarchy of the main conversation.

Navigating to commonly used areas of the application should require only a few keystrokes, similar to ChatGPT Classic.

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