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Re: WCAG and incorrect implementation of keyboard interaction

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Mar 13, 2019 8:15AM

You can use the keyboard interaction and "developing a keyboard
interface" section of the ARIa Authoring Spec as a reference:
https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices-1.1/
This is not normative, meaning you can't cite it as proof that your
dropdown violates WCAG, but it is the most comprehensive keyboard
interaction guidance we have (a bit too comprehensive in some
situations actually).


On 3/13/19, Patrick H. Lauke < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> On 13/03/2019 11:20, konstantin galiakhmetov wrote:
>> hello,
>> What SC i can mention when i see that a keyboard interaction with a ui
>> control is implemented in the wrong way.
>> For example there is a drobdown list  and a user has to press tab key to
>> move to the next item. My user experience says that i must use arrowkey
>> to choose an option in the drop-down list, not tab key, and i am sure
>> that this implementation is not correct, but i can not cite a particular
>> SC  because WCAG does not regulate specific implementation.
>
> You are correct that you can't normatively fail this particular issue
> under any WCAG SC. Even SC 2.1.1 Keyboard only normatively requires that
> content be operable with the keyboard, not that it necessarily follow
> any specific or appropriate conventions.
>
>> What should
>> I do in such cases? How can I prove that this implementation is a major
>> problem? Or I'm wrong and above described behavior is not critical issue?
>
> If the authors/developers only care about whether or not it passes WCAG
> SCs as the only "proof", then ... there's nothing you can do.
>
> Of course, accessibility (and to a certain extent, usability) goes
> beyond the bare minimum baseline of WCAG. Generally, in an audit
> situation, I'd mention this sort of mismatch/less than appropriate
> keyboard behaviour by saying that yes, while it does pass 2.1.1, it
> should really be addressed to match user expectations.
>
> Also, it's not clear from your original message, but: how is this
> "dropdown list" exposed programmatically? If it's exposed (and therefore
> announced by assistive technologies) as a particular type of widget,
> then it should ideally follow that widget's standard behaviour, or AT
> users will be even more confused (or, in the worst case, will be unable
> to interact with the widget correctly at all, since AT will then assume
> only certain keyboard interactions are possible/acceptable on that
> particular widget).
>
> P
> --
> Patrick H. Lauke
>
> www.splintered.co.uk | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
> http://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | http://redux.deviantart.com
> twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
> > > > >


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