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Re: Focus should always be set somewhere, right?

for

From: Sean Murphy
Date: Jan 31, 2016 4:59PM

My view is that the focus should be placed back on the last link you activated to trigger the control. For example: If a pop-up occurs, that provides you with the required controls. Such as playing a video, editing a post, etc. Once the pop-up disappears, the focus is placed back on the element to trigger the item. A pop-up could be a new window or within the page. At least the user gets a consistent behaviour. Placing the focus at the top of the page or the next item in the element tab order isn't useful as this might not be the flow as the user expects due to the method in which the assistive technology handles the page.

Sean
> On 31 Jan 2016, at 10:55 am, Robert Fentress < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> Interesting about the VO heuristic for focus. Thanks.
>
> As regards where the cursor goes, I'm talking about something different
> than focus. For instance, in JAWS in the example of a control disappearing
> that had had focus, I usually say focus becomes indeterminate. Pressing
> the tab key at that point (I think) moves focus (and the cursor) to the
> first focusable element on the page. However, if, instead, you press the
> down arrow at that point, it moves the virtual cursor somewhere seemingly
> random, not the top of the page. The focus remains indeterminate, unless
> you're in Autoforms Mode (and maybe Semi-Autoforms Mode) and the cursor
> happens to end up on a field. I think I've got the terminology right
> there, but to be frank I get lost in all that verbiage sometimes.
>
> On Sat, Jan 30, 2016 at 5:51 PM, Patrick H. Lauke < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> wrote:
>
>> On 30/01/2016 22:08, Robert Fentress wrote:
>>
>>> I just wanted to confirm that focus should always be set somewhere. For
>>> instance, in rich internet applications you may interact with a control
>>> and
>>> that may cause the control to disappear. In those instances, focus should
>>> always be explicitly set somewhere after that item is removed from the
>>> DOM,
>>> correct?
>>>
>>
>> Yes. One interesting thing I noticed (but haven't got around to writing up
>> anywhere) is that VO (at least on iOS) seems to have built-in heuristics to
>> hunt for focus when it's lost - for instance, say you're currently on the
>> close button of an HTML dialog, and that once closed the focus isn't
>> correctly set back somewhere sensible. VO will usually try to find the
>> focusable element that's nearest to the last known position in the viewport
>> where it had focus, so it will generally set focus (unless done explicitly)
>> to whatever was approximately under the close button in the main page.
>>
>> On a related note, are there rules for where the virtual cursor (or
>>> equivalent) in screen readers goes when such items are removed from the
>>> DOM? It seems pretty random in my experience, but perhaps there is a
>>> pattern I'm missing.
>>>
>>
>> Usually on desktop, the focus is lost completely - as if you entered the
>> page again for the first time. On subsequent TAB you'd be focused on the
>> first focusable element of the page. Maybe the randomness you experience is
>> due to the heuristic above?
>>
>> P
>> --
>> Patrick H. Lauke
>>
>> www.splintered.co.uk | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
>> http://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | http://redux.deviantart.com
>> twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
>> >> >> >> >>
>
>
>
> --
> Robert Fentress
> Senior Accessibility Solutions Designer
> 540.231.1255
>
> Technology-enhanced Learning & Online Strategies
> Assistive Technologies
> 1180 Torgersen Hall
> 620 Drillfield Drive (0434)
> Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
> > > >