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Re: Tabindex and initial focus

for

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Feb 3, 2018 9:04AM

My instructions to my team are never to put focus inside the page if
the page is a landing page or if there are important instructions at
the top of the form.
I strongly recommend putting focus directly on a form ield if the page
is a log in page or if this is a form with errors.
Any other situation we treat on a case by case basis.
It's a fact that a screen reader user can get to the top of the page
withone key strok, a keyboard only user may have to tab many times to
get to the first form field (well, unless the page has a skip link).



On 2/3/18, Ryan E. Benson < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> 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
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>> 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.
>> >> >> >> >>
> > > > >


--
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.