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Re: Should disabled elements receive tab focus

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From: Moore,Michael (Accessibility) (HHSC)
Date: Oct 28, 2016 8:14AM

How does keeping non-actionable controls out of the tab order present a more accurate description of the interface in its present state? If I can tab to something then the assumption is that I can do something with it. If I am reading through the interface I can see all of the disabled controls and all of the static/informational content and I can also discover all of the actionable controls. I believe that the reasoning that we have to have non-actionable controls in the tab-ring comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of how screen reading software functions. Far too often I have seen test scripts that call for the tester to fail anything that cannot be discovered by tabbing. This usually results in everything getting a tab-index of 0 and a nightmare to use or remediate.

Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Civil Rights Office
(512) 438-3431 (Office)

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Thomas Lee McKeithan II
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2016 6:08 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Should disabled elements receive tab focus

I differ. I believe that disabled buttons/controls should be in the tab order providing the user an accurate representation of what's presented on the page visually.


Respectfully,
Thomas Lee McKeithan II | Optum Technology Solutions Electronic Accessibility Engineer, UX Design Studio (UXDS) MD018, 6220 Old Dobbin Lane, Columbia, MD, 21045, USA

T +1 443-896-0432
M +1 202-276-6437
<EMAIL REMOVED>
www.optum.com
 



-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Moore,Michael (Accessibility) (HHSC)
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2016 12:43 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Should disabled elements receive tab focus

If the button is disabled then it should not be included in the tab ring. Screen reader users can find the button using standard reading controls. Just make sure that it is in the proper location in the reading order for the page.

Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator
Texas Health and Human Services Commission Civil Rights Office
(512) 438-3431 (Office)

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Ajay Sharma
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2016 11:39 AM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Should disabled elements receive tab focus

Hello and Greetings,


Looking for some expert advice on the case where it is desired by the screen reader users that tab focus should go on disabled button and screen reader should announce it's name, role and state which is disabled. But doing so would affect the usability of keyboard only users as the tab focus would land on non interactive element.
There are certain instances where the disabled control gets tab focus both in the case of web and desktop applications, but there is no spec or guideline that directly address to this issue.

So, please share your thoughts on it and I'd greatly appreciate if there is some specs are already there.

Best Regards,
Ajay
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