WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Keyboard navigation

for

From: Paul J. Adam
Date: Jan 24, 2014 11:10AM

I don’t think my reply went through due to attaching screenshots, they’ve been removed.

> I’ve considered this idea as well as a method for non-mouse users to bypass repetitive blocks of content, i.e. no more need for a skip link.
>
> So if a keyboard-only user was on a Mac they could turn on VoiceOver and use the Headings quick navigation keys or navigate by other semantic elements. Let’s say I press Control+Option+Command+H then I can cycle through all the headings but I can’t just press TAB to get to the next link, you have to press VO+Command+L for link or arrow to it, once you’re on a focusable element then you can start TABing around again.
>
> Unlike other screen readers, VoiceOver displays a visual Cursor (black outline) around the current screen reader focused element. This makes it a much more visual screen reader and helpful to keep track of where you are on the page. The speech output window (Caption Panel) can be enabled or disabled and the font size adjusted.
>
>
>
> I think VoiceOver for OS X would be great for keyboard-only users, learning/cognitive disabilities, deaf/HOH users doing accessibility testing. I think the other screen readers should have the ability to show your current focus and display the speech output in an adjustable size.
>
> There’s also plugins to enable ARIA Landmark keyboard navigation like this one:
> Enabling landmark-based keyboard navigation in Firefox
> http://blog.paciellogroup.com/2013/07/enabling-landmark-based-keyboard-navigation-in-firefox/
>
> The landmark plugin works great, you press n and p for next/previous landmarks, it flashes a temporary red outline around the current landmark and when you press TAB you’ll be on the next link inside that landmark.
>
>
>
> I agree that keyboard based quick navigation functionality should be built directly into the browsers then maybe skip links could be retired :)
>
> I think there may be some bug reports or feature requests in with some of the browser developers, here’s the bug report for Firefox:
> Bug 670928 - HTML5 element and WAI-ARIA landmark roles easily navigable in Firefox
> https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=670928
>
> It’s a good read!
> Check this out from Steve Faulkner:
> Concept for integrating keyboard navigation of HTML5 structural elements/ ARIA landmarks into Firefox
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/11yzSsHorM3mkG8fLk_etdY-jcpYjZIHAKT3qDzkuyMI/edit?pli=1
>
> Paul J. Adam
> Accessibility Evangelist
> www.deque.com



On Jan 24, 2014, at 11:55 AM, <EMAIL REMOVED> wrote:

> In opera, F9 is blur, so in a form field you can always use F9 to enter navigation mode and leave form mode.
>
> The header navigation is great -- when it works. It has a tendency to be confused by some divs; sometimes it gets trapped. But I still use it frequently.
>
> I sometimes use speech off NVDA for element navigation but unexpected things do happen with the viewable elements on the page. Plus reponse time is very slow. I agree that browser builtins or add-ons would be an easier way to handle this.
>
> Deborah Kaplan
> Accessibility Team Co-lead
> Dreamwidth Studios
>
> On Fri, 24 Jan 2014, Bourne, Sarah (ITD) wrote:
>
>> Birkir, when you have focus on a form field, the shortcuts do not work. It enters the letter n or p into the field, or jumps to that letter in a drop-list, etc. When you tab out of the form field, the shortcuts work again.
>>
>> 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 Birkir R. Gunnarsson
>> Sent: Friday, January 24, 2014 12:18 PM
>> To: WebAIM Discussion List
>> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Keyboard navigation
>>
>> Sara
>>
>> What happens when user needs to use the n key when typing into a form field on the page.
>> Basically, a keyboar navigation interface needs to allow for the concept of interactive typing and filling in forms, similar to the forms mode in screen readers.
>> I absolutely agree that browsers should offer up a more robust support for keyboard only behavior.
>> I think that would be a fantastic addition for a lot of people, not just with disabilities but frequent/power users of websites.
>> I know the traders at the investment bank I used to work for always used a console mode app for trading stocks because using the keyboard they could pull of trades much more quickly.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 1/24/14, <EMAIL REMOVED> < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>> Hi Sailesh,
>>> Nice to know about opera support. I'll try that out. Thank you for sharing.
>>>
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>> Srinivasu Chakravarthula
>>> Mobile: +91 990 081 0881
>>> Website: http://www.srinivasu.org |http://sgaccessibility.com Follow
>>> me on Twitter:http://twitter.com/CSrinivasu
>>>
>>> Sr. Accessibility Lead at PayPal
>>> Founder at Sai Gagan Accessibility Solutions Hon. Joint Secretary at
>>> The National Association for the Blind, Karnataka Branch
>>> http://about.me/srinivasuc
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone 4S
>>>
>>>> On 24-Jan-2014, at 19:30, Sailesh Panchang
>>>> < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hello Srinivasu,
>>>> At least one browser (Opera) did permit heading navigation from the
>>>> keyboard ... I suppose that is more robust now ... no personal
>>>> experience there.
>>>> My responses are in the context of the thought in the first email.
>>>> And in that context I said that SRs do allow one to work with speech
>>>> off.
>>>> Sure one can have a user agent that allows keyboard navigation in a
>>>> manner that is as robust as SRs allow with no speech funtctionality
>>>> at all.
>>>> Sailesh
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On 1/24/14, <EMAIL REMOVED> < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>>>> Sailesh,
>>>>> While I agree that's a solution, I'm unsure if a general keyboard
>>>>> only user would aware of this. In fact why would they even think of
>>>>> a screen reader?
>>>>> Since we are all in the accessibility industry, we could think of
>>>>> cross disability and aware of AT features across.
>>>>>
>>>>> Also, I'm not sure if screen reader vendors ever document with
>>>>> keywords of other disabilities.
>>>>>
>>>>> Further, all they would need is a quick navigation feature and why
>>>>> would they need to install a screen reader that require investment
>>>>> of more space.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Can we think of a plugin that could just turn on quick navigation
>>>>> feature by pressing an access key?
>>>>>
>>>>> Am I missing something?
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Srinivasu Chakravarthula | PayPal | @csrinivasu Sent from my iPhone
>>>>> 5C
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 24-Jan-2014, at 16:33, Sailesh Panchang
>>>>>> < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Speech off has been built into SRs for the same reason for a long
>>>>>> time now.
>>>>>> For some aspects, if visual cursor tracking does not work as
>>>>>> intended, that's a bug to be fixed.
>>>>>> But overall it is the solution you were hoping for as per your
>>>>>> first email.
>>>>>> Thanks and regards,
>>>>>> Sailesh
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 1/23/14, Don Mauck < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>>>>>> I understand that as screen reader myself, however, I'm not
>>>>>>> convinced that with speech off, the visual cursor would track
>>>>>>> correctly. I'll half to ask some of my visual friends.
>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: Sailesh Panchang [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
>>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 2:57 PM
>>>>>>> To: WebAIM Discussion List
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Keyboard navigation
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Screen readers do have speech off mode that allow one to do this.
>>>>>>> The free NVDA screen reader can help such users.
>>>>>>> A decade ago IBM HPR also had this feature. JAWS too works with
>>>>>>> speech off.
>>>>>>> Sailesh
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 1/23/14, Don Mauck < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>>>>>>> Hi list -
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I've had an interesting idea proposed to me. With the many folks
>>>>>>>> that are not able to use a mouse, yet have no visual issues,
>>>>>>>> wouldn't it be a great help if they had some of the same quick
>>>>>>>> key navigation abilities such as jumping from headings, button,
>>>>>>>> check boxes, radio buttons etc. This would certainly save the
>>>>>>>> users a lot of tabbing and arrowing. Just imagine how much
>>>>>>>> easier it would be for a user to bring up a list of headings,
>>>>>>>> buttons etc.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> As more folks get older and or have permanent wrist injuries, I
>>>>>>>> think this kind of keyboard navigation would be quite popular.
>>>>>>>> It seems like a screen reader company like FS or GW-micro would
>>>>>>>> have a whole new market to tap in to. Any thoughts?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>> Regards: Don Mauck -- Accessibility matters.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> HYPERLINK "http://www.oracle.com/" nOracle Don Mauck |
>>>>>>>> Accessibility Evangelist
>>>>>>>> Phone: HYPERLINK "tel:+1%203033344184"+1 3033344184 | Mobile:
>>>>>>>> HYPERLINK
>>>>>>>> "tel:+1%203032171557"+1 3032171557 Oracle Accessibility Program
>>>>>>>> Office
>>>>>>>> 7604 Technology Way | Denver, Colorado 80237
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> HYPERLINK "http://www.oracle.com/commitment" nGreen Oracle
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Oracle is committed to developing practices and products that
>>>>>>>> help protect the environment
>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
>>>> >>>> >>>> list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
>>> >>> >>> list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
>> >> >> >> >> >>
>>
>
> --
> > >