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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)