W3C Open Source Software – News for 2026

b6+ version 1.166

2026-01-24 B6+, the slide framework has some improvements:

• By default, b6+ does not set role=application anymore. In most screen readers, this results in better accessibility, while still allowing b6+'s keys to work.
• Still for users of screen readers: The N key now cycles through speaking the speaker notes, the next slide, the current incremental item (if any), and the current slide.
• B6+ now tries to avoid that invisible elements in a live region accidentally get focus.
• When a table of contents (ToC) is opened (with the C key), the current slide is highlighted in the ToC.
• When a ToC is open, the Escape key now closes that ToC, rather than exiting full-screen mode and stopping the slide show. (So far only on recent Firefox and Chrome.)
• Keys to navigate the slides now work even if an element on a slide has the focus (unless the key has a function in that element).
• The duration of automatic slide shows can now be a fractional number of seconds, minutes or hours (e.g.: “10.3s”).
• Automatic font size reduction (class “textfit”) and image scaling (class “autosize”) now work also if the styles for slide mode and index mode differ.
• A new custom property “--progress0” is available for style sheet writers. It is similar to the “--progress” property, but starts at 0 for the first slide.