WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Instructions for Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

for

From: Paul Rayius
Date: Jan 10, 2020 12:41PM

Hi Peter,
WCAG 2.1 - 3.3.2 is actually dealing with Forms and not really addressing keyboard shortcut functionality.

This might be a stretch but Guideline 3.2 requires that "Webpages appear and operate in predictable ways." The "stretch" then, is applying this to keyboard shortcuts, requiring that they also operate in predictable ways. In other words, if you're using a keyboard shortcut for something other than what it's "universally known to do" then that could be considered unpredictable and, as such, providing clarification or instructions on what happens when someone uses that keyboard shortcut would be necessary.

Unfortunately, the answer to your question does not appear to be totally cut and dry, though.

I hope that helps at least a little. I'm interested to read what input others can provide!

Paul Rayius
Director of Training
CommonLook

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Peter Quale
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2020 1:35 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: [WebAIM] Instructions for Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Wondering if anyone can help justify a requirement.

In my mind, if a web application requires a custom keyboard shortcut or has non-standard keyboard interactions, instructions are required. I'm not finding any WCAG success or failure examples that match what I'm looking for.

I did find a Deque University
<https://dequeuniversity.com/checklists/web/device-independent-input> page that claims this is covered by 3.3.2. Quote: "Custom Keystroke
Instructions: When custom keyboard behavior is required to use a component, keyboard instructions MUST be provided."

Would anyone know where the Deque team finds this correlation with 3.3.2, other than logic says so.

We're in one of those delightful situations where the developer won't budge unless they read it themselves. So, short of hacking the W3C site and adding my own success technique, I'm looking for official documentation.

Thanks so much for any assistance!

-Peter Q

--
*Peter Quale*
Google Voice: (707) 992-5696