WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Keyboard navigation using arrows only

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Sep 2, 2014 1:09PM

Why did they not implement standard keyboard navigation? Except for
some highly interactive widgets or web applications, I can see no
reason why standard Tab navigation would not be both possible and
optimal.

Another important consideration is that arrow key navigation is not
going to work when a screen reader is used. The arrow keys are
intercepted by the screen reader to control other reading
functionality (line by line, for example). You can get around this by
triggering forms/application mode, but this essentially disables all
other screen reader keyboard commands, such as navigation by headings,
etc.

Jared