Fix accessibility issues with placeholder text in submission forms by removing placeholders

[FrancescoMolinaro]

References

Fixes #4198

Description

Following what is described in https://www.deque.com/blog/accessible-forms-the-problem-with-placeholders/ as an issue with placeholder, this PR removes all placeholders on submission form fields (replacing them with labels where needed)

Instructions for Reviewers

Placeholders should no longer exist on any fields within the submission form. The Series/Report No. field now has sublabels.

Checklist

This checklist provides a reminder of what we are going to look for when reviewing your PR. You do not need to complete this checklist prior creating your PR (draft PRs are always welcome).
However, reviewers may request that you complete any actions in this list if you have not done so. If you are unsure about an item in the checklist, don't hesitate to ask. We're here to help!

• My PR is created against the main branch of code (unless it is a backport or is fixing an issue specific to an older branch).
• My PR is small in size (e.g. less than 1,000 lines of code, not including comments & specs/tests), or I have provided reasons as to why that's not possible.
• My PR passes ESLint validation using npm run lint
• My PR doesn't introduce circular dependencies (verified via npm run check-circ-deps)
• My PR includes TypeDoc comments for all new (or modified) public methods and classes. It also includes TypeDoc for large or complex private methods.
• My PR passes all specs/tests and includes new/updated specs or tests based on the Code Testing Guide.
• My PR aligns with Accessibility guidelines if it makes changes to the user interface.
• My PR uses i18n (internationalization) keys instead of hardcoded English text, to allow for translations.
• My PR includes details on how to test it. I've provided clear instructions to reviewers on how to successfully test this fix or feature.
• If my PR includes new libraries/dependencies (in package.json), I've made sure their licenses align with the DSpace BSD License based on the Licensing of Contributions documentation.
• If my PR includes new features or configurations, I've provided basic technical documentation in the PR itself.
• If my PR fixes an issue ticket, I've linked them together.

[tdonohue]

Temporarily closing & reopening this PR to trigger tests to run again. The e2e test failures currently in this PR seem unrelated to the PR itself, and I'm hoping reopening this PR will get this to run against latest main.

[tdonohue]

@FrancescoMolinaro : Just a note this PR seems to be failing the automated accessibility scan that is done in e2e tests. The failure is in the Submission Form and it says this:

1 accessibility violation was detected
[
  {
    id: 'label',
    impact: 'critical',
    description: 'Ensure every form element has a label',
    helpUrl: 'https://dequeuniversity.com/rules/axe/4.10/label?application=axeAPI',
    nodes: 4,
    html: [
      '<input class="form-control ng-untouched ng-pristine ng-valid ng-star-inserted" autocomplete="on" id="6_array-0-dc_contributor_author" name="dc.contributor.author" placeholder="" spellcheck="true" tabindex="0" type="text">',
      '<input class="form-control ng-untouched ng-pristine ng-valid ng-star-inserted" autocomplete="on" id="9_array-0-dc_title_alternative" name="dc.title.alternative" placeholder="" spellcheck="true" tabindex="0" type="text">',
      '<input class="form-control ds-form-input-value ng-untouched ng-pristine ng-valid ng-star-inserted" autocomplete="on" id="15_array-0-dc_identifier_QUALDROP_VALUE" name="dc.identifier_QUALDROP_VALUE" placeholder="" spellcheck="false" tabindex="0" type="text">',
      '<input _ngcontent-dspace-angular-c4223387587="" class="form-control scrollable-dropdown-input" id="17_array-0-dc_type" name="dc.type" readonly="" type="text" aria-controls="combobox_17_array-0-dc_type_listbox" autocomplete="off">'
    ]
  }
]
    (Attempt 1 of 3) should create a new submission when using /submit path & pass accessibility

[github-actions]

Hi @FrancescoMolinaro,
Conflicts have been detected against the base branch.
Please resolve these conflicts as soon as you can. Thanks!

[FrancescoMolinaro]

Hi @tdonohue , sorry for the delay on this one, I have adapted the code to handle also the native components from the form library, the PR should be ready now.

[github-actions]

Hi @FrancescoMolinaro,
Conflicts have been detected against the base branch.
Please resolve these conflicts as soon as you can. Thanks!

[tdonohue]

@FrancescoMolinaro : I'm looking at this after having reviewed #4777 from @AndreaBarbasso , and I feel this two PRs have slight conflicts.

In #4777, we have added labels to fields (like dates) which used the placeholder as a "label". This removes the usefulness of the placeholders on date fields.

So, arguably once those fields have labels, we could just remove their placeholders(which is what is recommended in https://www.deque.com/blog/accessible-forms-the-problem-with-placeholders/). That'd simplify things as we'd no longer need the configuration setting that you are adding in this PR.

If there are some fields where the placeholders are still necessary, then we could look at ways to remove those placeholders or fix the color contrast (if possible). So, I'd rather not introduce this new omitSimpleFieldPlaceholders configuration, because we should discourage people from using placeholders in general.

[github-actions]

Hi @FrancescoMolinaro,
Conflicts have been detected against the base branch.
Please resolve these conflicts as soon as you can. Thanks!

[FrancescoMolinaro]

Hi @tdonohue, many thanks for the feedback , I have aligned the PR with main and the changes that Andrea did for the date fields, I have also removed the property as you suggested, so that the fields won't have the placeholder at all.

For field like concat or series I have replaced them with the label as it would be confusing to understand which field belong to which metadata.

This should be now ready for a second review.

[tdonohue]

👍 Thanks @FrancescoMolinaro ! I retested this today and, as expected, I see that all placeholder text is now removed from the submission form. I didn't notice any side effects to that change. I also feel this is the easiest way to fix the ongoing issues with accessibility of placeholder text.

NOTE: Unfortunately, this won't be possible to backport until #4777 is backported (as that related fix hasn't been backported yet).

[github-actions]

Hi @FrancescoMolinaro,
Conflicts have been detected against the base branch.
Please resolve these conflicts as soon as you can. Thanks!

[github-actions]

Hi @FrancescoMolinaro,
Conflicts have been detected against the base branch.
Please resolve these conflicts as soon as you can. Thanks!

[github-actions]

Hi @FrancescoMolinaro,
Conflicts have been detected against the base branch.
Please resolve these conflicts as soon as you can. Thanks!