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Re: Accessibility of separate button on search suggestions flyout with Keyboard

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From: Andrews, David B (DEED)
Date: Mar 13, 2023 3:30PM

Please don't get so hung up on the numbers or the exact meaning of words. Can a keyboard-only user do everything on the page that a mouse user can do? This is a yes/no question!

Dave



-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of glen walker
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2023 12:25 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility of separate button on search suggestions flyout with Keyboard

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> I believe that any item on the page that can be clicked with the mouse
should also be accessible from the keyboard

While that's certainly the ideal situation, that's not what 2.1.1 says. As you quoted, "*all functionality *of the content must be operable through a keyboard interface".

The key being "all functionality". It does not say all interactive elements must be operable with a keyboard.

So in your case, if there was another way to view all results besides clicking on the "view all" button and that other way supported the keyboard, then technically the "view all" button does not have to be keyboard accessible. I would not encourage that behavior, but it's allowed.

> I am wondering if this is a serious violation?

If there's no other (keyboard) way to view all results, then absolutely it's serious. If there is another way, then it's not a WCAG failure but could still be an annoyance for some users, depending on how difficult it is to get to the other way.

All WCAG failures are going to be serious to some user, otherwise it wouldn't be a failure.