WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Keyboard Users and What They Use-Thanks!

for

From: LSnider
Date: Jan 19, 2012 1:27PM


Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for all your great information and links. I know it is hard
to say 'most people do this', so it is good to hear about the variation!

Thanks again.

Lisa



On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 6:56 AM, Bourne, Sarah (ITD) <
<EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Lisa,
>
> For people who don't use a mouse, but also don't use a screen reader or
> other AT, the keyboard commands differ by the OS and programs you are using.
>
> For web browsing in Firefox and IE, tab takes you through links and form
> fields. Space or Page Down scrolls through (but doesn't change focus.)
> Up/Down arrows scroll one line at a time. Firefox has an option that lets
> you use arrow keys to navigate within the pages. Opera uses slightly
> different keyboard shortcuts. For instance, tab only works on form fields.
>
> Keyboard-only users rely on the program's documentation for more advanced
> features. For instance, here is Firefox's:
> http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Keyboard%20shortcuts and Opera's:
> http://help.opera.com/Windows/11.60/en/keyboard.html
>
> sb
>
> Sarah E. Bourne
> Director of Assistive Technology &
> Mass.Gov Chief Technology Strategist
> Information Technology Division
> Commonwealth of Massachusetts
> 1 Ashburton Pl. rm 1601 Boston MA 02108
> 617-626-4502
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> http://www.mass.gov/itd
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto:
> <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of LSnider
> Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 4:15 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: [WebAIM] Keyboard Users and What They Use
>
> 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?
>
> 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
>