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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
> >
> >