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Re: Custom Keyboard Shortcuts: Are They Enough?

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From: Bim Egan
Date: Jan 23, 2018 3:07PM

There is a real potential for conflicts between the keyboard shortcuts used
for assistive technologies (AT), which should have first call on any key
combinations; browsers, that use key combinations for interacting with the
browser chrome and web pages, where the key combination may never be picked
up by the AT. It's not just providing the functionality, the user also
needs to know what the control is, what it does and how to use it. With
screen readers, a lot of this work is done by the screenreader itself, which
tells the user what key combination to use to interact with the control, and
can even say what subsequent key combinations will move to a newly revealed
element.

All this is done by the AT "knowing" what to expect. A lot of this is now
handled by using WAI-ARIA. But it also depends on whether the browser
supports the WAI-ARIA technique or widget being used. ,

So custom controls may never be picked up by AT, and those that are may
leave the user in the dark about what to do and what to expect.

We've just audited a site that used a great deal of drag and drop, most of
which didn't work at all, in some instances the controls couldn't even
receive focus. We suggested just what you thought of, buttons that would
move component blocks in any direction, either simply one at a time (which
would be laborious, or by combining it with a <select> to specify how many
positions to move in whichever direction. We knew this wouldn't be a
popular option for everyone, so we also suggested the use of a toggleTip(1),
to display the buttons and any form controls, along with the information
that if the specified number of moves was greater than the available
positions, then the target component block would move only as far as it
was able to in the desired direction.

Hope this helps.
(1)
https://developer.paciellogroup.com/blog/2016/01/simple-standalone-toggletip
-widget-pattern/






-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf
Of JP Jamous
Sent: 23 January 2018 21:04
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Custom Keyboard Shortcuts: Are They Enough?

I would recommend visible buttons. Keyboard only and SR users won't know the
keyboard shortcuts unless you have them displayed on the page. Additionally,
If I press CTRL + Alt + o on my machine, Outlook opens up because I have
that key combination assigned to it. That is one of the reasons why I do not
like keyboard shortcuts on a page.

If page layout is not ample to house all of the buttons, you can show and
hide those buttons when onfocus fires up. Visit www.BestBuy.com and press
Tab on the home page. You will notice that "Skip to Content" link becomes
visible for keyboard users to activate it. You can implement something
similar.

With a short instructional message, you can make the UI more accessible
without having to take any chances with keyboard shortcuts. Also, your
keyboard users will be able to follow your design better.

I hope that helps.
-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf
Of KK Kevin Kuder (5132)
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 2:51 PM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Custom Keyboard Shortcuts: Are They Enough?

I am working on a project that has a movable content bin. It can be moved in
the following ways:


· Using a mouse to click and drag it

· Using touchscreen controls to touch and drag it

· Tabbing to it via keyboard or clicking on it with a mouse and
using custom keyboard shortcuts to move it:

o Alt+Ctrl+M to set to Move mode when the object is selected

§ Use the arrow keys to move left/right/up/down

The question I have is: Since we have custom keyboard controls does that
cover the "needs to be keyboard accessible" portion of accessibility for
this? I argue that we also need alternative keyboard controls, such as
alternative form elements (perhaps buttons) that would allow the user to
navigate to and move the content bin up/down/left/right with one keystroke
(ENTER) since some of the custom keyboard commands are complex. There are
also custom keyboard controls for rotate and resize of the same bin type.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.
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