WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Tabindex and initial focus

for

From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Feb 3, 2018 8:53AM

This same question came up in another forum I'm in. There was an
overwhelming support of dropping people to the first field. I am torn on
the issue because if you do that, you may miss instructions, or if it is a
basic form, would it have that many instructions? We have PeopleSoft too,
but not many people use it. So if you have a disability, putting focus on
the first element saves you a few seconds, and the screens don't change.

Ryan E. Benson

On Feb 2, 2018 22:17, "Birkir R. Gunnarsson" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:

> I like the solution, but I'm not sure it addresses the initial question.
> Setting a positive tabindex on an element by itself should not cause a
> screen reader to autofocus on the element.
> It only ensures that when the page loads and the user presses the tab
> key, that the element with the lowest positive tabindex receives ocus.
> MOst screen reader users do not use the tab key to inspect a page,
> they are much more likely to explore using the arrow keys, navigate by
> headings, landmarks or other semantic elements. Tabbing through the
> webpage is not a good exploration technique for a screen reader user,
> it is slow, cumbersome, and the user misses out on all the
> non-focusable content.
>
> So, if the focus is automatically placed on the first form field when
> the page loads, there's got to be something else going on, either a
> JavaScript focus() function or an autofocus attribute.
>
>
>
> On 2/1/18, Swift, Daniel P. < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> > Good call, Jonathan:
> >
> > $(document).ready(function() {
> > $('input').each(function(){
> > if ($(this).attr('tabindex') > 0)
> > $(this).attr('tabindex', 0);
> > });
> > });
> >
> >
> > Dan Swift
> > Senior Web Specialist
> > Enterprise Services
> > West Chester University
> > 610.738.0589
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> Behalf
> > Of Jonathan Avila
> > Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2018 1:26 PM
> > To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> > Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Tabindex and initial focus
> >
> >> While far from pretty, you could use JS to reset the focus. In the off
> >> chance that you are using jQuery:
> $(this).removeAttr('tabindex');
> >
> > I would tighten that up to only remove positive indices as tabindex of 0
> or
> > -1 may be used for other good reasons. Furthermore, a safer approach
> might
> > be to change all the positive tabindex values to 0s in case there were
> > elements that needed to be added to the tab order.
> >
> > Jonathan
> >
> > Jonathan Avila
> > Chief Accessibility Officer
> > Level Access, inc. (formerly SSB BART Group, inc.)
> > <EMAIL REMOVED>
> > 703.637.8957 (Office)
> > Visit us online: Website | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Blog Looking
> to
> > boost your accessibility knowledge? Check out our free webinars!
> >
> > The information contained in this transmission may be attorney privileged
> > and/or confidential information intended for the use of the individual or
> > entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended
> > recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination,
> distribution
> > or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> Behalf
> > Of Swift, Daniel P.
> > Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2018 1:23 PM
> > To: WebAIM Discussion List
> > Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Tabindex and initial focus
> >
> > While far from pretty, you could use JS to reset the focus. In the off
> > chance that you are using jQuery:
> >
> > $(document).ready(function() {
> > $('input').each(function(){
> > $(this).removeAttr('tabindex');
> > });
> > });
> >
> > Dan Swift
> > Senior Web Specialist
> > Enterprise Services
> > West Chester University
> > 610.738.0589
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> Behalf
> > Of Joseph Sherman
> > Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2018 1:08 PM
> > To: 'WebAIM Discussion List' < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> > Subject: [WebAIM] Tabindex and initial focus
> >
> > Our PeopleSoft application uses positive tabindex on every interactive
> item
> > in forms. No, we cannot change this. Yes, it's very annoying. Assuming
> focus
> > is in the correct order, the problem is that initial focus for screen
> > readers starts on the first tabindex on the page, skipping any
> directions or
> > instructional material at the top of a page.
> >
> > Is this an inherent property of positive tabindexes, that they steal
> initial
> > page focus, or is this something we can change?
> >
> >
> > Joseph
> > > > > archives at
> > http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > > > > > archives at
> > http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > > > > > archives at
> > http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > > > > > > > > > >
>
>
> --
> Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
> > > > >