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Re: Links and Spacebar

for

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Feb 5, 2020 2:02AM

On 04/02/2020 23:16, Murphy, Sean wrote:
> Marshall
>
> I might be restating what others have already said.
>
> If you have a link which is styled like a button. Then the developer must ensure the same behaviour for the sudo button supports the keyboard commands and role.
>
> I would be strongly recommending they use the correct tag which removes all these headaches. Custom elements is the developer / UX / designer responsibility.

This is the perennial discussion...the tension between "it's styled as a
button but actually acts as a link". Call to action links, important
links, etc are often visually styled as buttons, but it does not mean
they should be coded as <button> elements. What counts is their behavior
... it's just as incorrect/inappropriate to use <button> which simply
loads a new URL (as then, users can't do other things like open the link
in a new tab/window etc).

So I would concentrate mostly on what the thing does, not necessarily
how it is visually styled. But of course, this can then bring
tension/confusion for non-AT keyboard users. So long story short, in
those cases, I think adding extra JS to react to space (and activate the
link) would not be a major problem if you feel your users would try and
activate the control with space as well.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

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