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Re: Keyboard Users and What They Use

for

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Jan 15, 2012 1:51AM

Lisa

To activate links a user may use space bar or the enter key (listen
for both, 13 and 32 I believe the ascii values are).
tab or arrow keys are used, arrow keys are popular, but there are
different options as well (it always strikes me as odd when a link
appears in tab order, but not when using arrow keys, ideally a page
should b coded to make both catch all links),
many users bring up a list of all the links on the page (jaws key f7,
same in nvda), , other explore by headings, a popular Jaws navigation
method is the "n" key, which moves focus to the first instance of a
different element (I find myself using it a lot,out of habit I
suppose).
If I am expecting a form I use "f" for next form field, "e" for next
edit field or similar.
Once you get to know the page you may insert custom bookmarks or look
for specific signs, in GMail basic interface I know to use "x" to jump
to first check box (next to first message) that way one key gets me
straight to my messages.
I am in favor of AccessKeys, if there is a link users are likely to
use frequently, but is not accessible with other elements such as
headings, say the "log in" link is in the middle of a list of links
(though it begs the question whether the page layout could not be more
eficient).
I tell people to keep the most commonly used material towards the top
of the page, novice users ere towards just using the arrow key to
navigate, and if the main content is 80 lines down, they may give up
before finding it.
Similarly, avoid overly large tables. Many users navigate tables with
the arrow down key, reading columngs left to right top to bottom, many
users are not aware of keys like shift-dot (less than) in Jaws, that
jumps to the end of current element, or table navigation modes that
make exploring tables faster.

There are many factors however, and we must put a certain faith in the
user being able to learn basic navigation features of his/her
assistive technology.


On 1/15/12, Rakesh < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Hi Lisa,
>
> On 15-01-2012 02:44, LSnider wrote:
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>> 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?
>> I am a screen reader user so I use only keyboard. Generally I don't use
>> tab key. I use arrow keys espicially down arrow key (In any given web page
>> I press "cntrl + home to go to the top of the page and press down arrow to
>> move to various elements of the page). To activate any link or form
>> element i use space bar.
>> 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!
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Lisa
> HTH
> Regards
> Rakesh
>
>>