Firefox version 100 has introduced captions to Picture-in-Picture video playback alongside other improvements.
Firefox browser version 100 was released on May 3rd and brings several accessibility improvements, one of which is the support for captions in Picture-in-Picture video playback. Additionally, as noted in the official release notes, some language-related updates and a change to focus indicators are part of this update.
The release notes of version 100 of Firefox specifically mention support for captions in Picture-in-Picture videos on YouTube, Prime Video, and Netflix. Captions are shown in Picture-in-Picture if they are enabled through the video player’s subtitle options on the page itself.
Support for captions in Picture-in-Picture is also available for sites that use the WebVTT (Web Video Text Track) format to supply captions. A widely supported captions or subtitle format for HTML video players.
After installing the update, it detects if its language is different from the operating system. If it is, it will suggest a language change to the user. Firefox’s spell checker now also supports multiple languages. A welcome addition for those of us who regularly communicate in different languages.
Another change to this version is the focus indicator for links. This used to be a dotted outline and is now a solid blue outline. This helps people like those with low vision, to more easily identify which element they have focused on. Sites can style their own focus indicators, but having a uniform indicator provided by the browser is a good start.
