WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: hardware keybaord accessibility on IPAD and IPAD mini issue

for

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Jan 4, 2018 3:15PM


On 04/01/2018 20:20, Pete Hachey wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Anybody came across this issue?
>
> Hardware keyboard navigation (using tab key) do not work on IPAD or IPAD mini using Safari or Chrome browser.
>
> I am a web developer, working on web app and I ensured javascript events with event.which= and 32 for enter and space bar and also used tabindex="0" for div buttons. Etc.
>
> The web app tab navigation works perfect using hardware keyboard on Windows system using Chrome, Firefox and IE browsers and Samsung phones S5 and S8.
>
> Unlike the desktop macOS there is no settings i can find to make IPAD or IPAD mini work with well hardware keyboard.
>
> Cannot tab to:
>
> Form fields and links. Able to type into form fields with hardware keyboard.

By default, on iOS, hardware keyboards don't fire any key events / work
in Safari (and any other iOS browsers, as they're all based on the same
UIWebView/WkWebView component) except in the situations where normally
you'd get an on-screen keyboard (i.e. when focus is inside a text input,
the browser's address bar, etc).

From memory, though, this HAS changed in recent iOS builds. However,
you need to use the alt/option key to move the focus
(ALT+TAB/ALT+SHIFT+TAB). ENTER/SPACE should work normally (no extra
modifier key).

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