The chat panel now works with a keyboard and a screen reader

Shoppers who browse your store with a keyboard or a screen reader can now use the assistant's panel end to end. There's nothing to change on your site.

• The panel has a name. Screen readers announce it as the "AI shopping assistant" dialog, in the language the panel displays.
• Focus goes to the message field once the conversation has loaded, so a keyboard user can type right away.
• Escape closes the panel, even from the message field. What the shopper typed is still there when they reopen it. Before, Escape did nothing while the shopper was in the field.
• The page is set aside only when the panel takes it over. In Focus on the chat, and on a phone-sized screen in either mode, the rest of your page can't be reached until the panel closes. In Alongside the page on a wider screen, the page stays usable as before.
• Finished answers are read out once. A screen reader announces each answer when it completes, not word by word, and doesn't read a resumed conversation back.
• The chat bubble and the Panel reduced state button say whether the panel is open.
• Reduced motion is respected. With the system setting on, the panel appears without sliding in and the loading indicator doesn't spin.