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Re: Initial focus on search field?

for

From: Robert Fentress
Date: Sep 29, 2014 9:21AM

How about changing tabindex so the search field is the second thing focus
is brought to when the tab key is pressed (after the skip link)? This may
make things easier for those keyboard-preferring users who want to quickly
get to the search field. The problem is that this is not the order things
appear in the page visually, since the first row of navigation links
appears above the search field. Even though the search field is very close
to the upper-right corner of the page, it seems bad to violate user's
expectations by having the focus move backward in the visual flow. . . so
that's probably out as a solution.

Folks here have raised the issue that the autofocus is bad for
keyboard-preferring users, but that seems counterintuitive to me. I am a
keyboard-preferring user myself, and I'd rather my focus be placed in that
field, because the links that precede it aren't ones I'd usually follow.
My understanding is that the requirement for focus to be placed in the
search field originally was based on specific usability testing for this
site, rather than general research. If we don't autofocus, that means a
keyboard-preferring user has to hit tab 13 times to get to the search
field, which research suggests is usually his/her preferred destination.

There are always many conflicting requirements in a page design--aesthetic,
political, usability preferences of different classes of visitors--and
there is often a certain thrownness to things, as Heidegger would say,
where we don't get to start from scratch, but have to work within existing
constraints. Certainly makes things interesting.

Thanks for the feedback. So is the consensus here that the autofocus
should just be removed altogether? Any creative solutions out there to
this conundrum, given that a major page redesign, where the
order/positioning of elements on the page is changed, is not in the offing?

Best,
Rob

On Tue, Sep 23, 2014 at 11:01 AM, Liko, Todd < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hi all.
>
> Very good read on this subject. I understand the idea behind making a
> website more usable/more convenient.
>
> For me, it is about expected behavior and choosing how I want to navigate
> the website, whether do so by keyboard or using a mouse. When visiting a
> site, I am not expecting the focus to be somewhere within the page. I do
> not want someone making the decision for me where I should start tabbing.
>
> One example is when I am completing a form requesting a phone number. It
> is split into three fields. Sometimes, I must tab to the next field,
> sometime the focus automatically moves to the next field upon completion of
> the previous field. Some people like the convenience, I do not.
>
> Todd.
>
>