WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

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
>> >
>> >