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Re: Keyboard Users and What They Use

for

From: Ryan Hemphill
Date: Jan 18, 2012 6:45AM

I have been trying to normalize behavior for different readers so I try to
maintain space bar as doing the same as the enter key for all users.

As far as navigation, I assume "lowest common denominator" browsing. Arrow
keys, tabbing and heading navigation only.

It's hard to insure that other key behavior will not have conflicts, so I
always try to stay away from trickier nav behaviors, like specific key
events. Unless you are doing a really heavy duty online app, they can be
done with more typical methods.
On Jan 17, 2012 4:17 PM, "Andrews, David B (DEED)" <
<EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> I am a blind computer user, and primarily use JAWS. I use the arrow keys
> a lot to explore new web pages. This way I can see what is on the page,
> how it is constructed and laid out etc.
>
> At least with JAWS, the space bar will activate some kinds of controls,
> while the enter key works best for others.
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <EMAIL REMOVED> <
> <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012 8:49 AM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Keyboard Users and What They Use
>
> On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 9:14 PM, LSnider < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> > For those who use keyboard only navigation, the tab key is most used from
> > what I have read. Do you use arrow keys a lot? If so, when do you use
> them?
> >
> > When you tab to a link you want to go to, for example a hidden skip to
> > navigation link, do you press enter or some other key? I just wanted to
> > confirm that this is the only way to activate this link...
> >
> > I am a mouse user, so I only play with keyboard navigation and wondered
> if I was missing some tricks of the trade!
>
> Even if we limit ourselves to ordinary keyboards and ordinary
> hyperlink controls, different setups provide many different ways to
> locate and activate links. Examples include:
>
> * Tab navigation through controls in "tab order" (using tab key,
> perhaps with a modifier, in popular desktop browsers).
> * Spatial navigation - moving in arbitrary directions through
> controls as laid out on screen (e.g. Opera using arrow keys with a
> modifier)
> * Caret browsing through lines and characters (e.g. Internet
> Explorer, Firefox).
> * Find as you type where you start typing the first letters of a
> link to select it then activate it (e.g. Firefox:
> http://www.mozilla.org/access/type-ahead/ ).
> * Links numbering - giving every link a short reference (e.g. "6"
> or "ak") that the user can type in to activate the link (e.g. Lynx,
> Vimium).
> * Picking a link to activate from a list of links on the page in a
> dialog (e.g. JAWS).
> * Special behaviors for special link types such as "next" and
> "prev" (e.g. Vimium has special key sequences for these).
> * Access keys suggested by the web author.
> * Mouse keys to simulate use of the mouse.
>
> My guess is the most widely used mechanisms are tab key and find as
> you type among general users, while dedicated keyboard only users are
> especially likely to use links numbering if they can see and links
> lists if they can't.
>
> --
> Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis
>