WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Tabindexes

for

From: Seth Rothberg
Date: Dec 15, 2004 3:30PM


On Dec 15, 2004, at 4:58 PM, david.hoffman wrote:

>
> The downside is that by deviating from an anticipated tab order, you
> are
> likely to seriously confuse the visual keyboard user who is unlikely to
> expect the customized behavior.


> What does your template look like? I have experimented with techniques
> for
> improving keyboard navigation without creating unusual behaviors...

David,

Good point about expected behavior. The template is basically a logo
plus lots of links hidden in a horizontal ul with css styled ul drop
downs that appear on mouse hovers and, beneath that, a little site
search form. I want people who might also use the skip nav link to have
a quick way of getting to the search form so I gave it low number in
the tab order even though it comes after the menu. That way, even
though the skip nav link passes over the search form, there's an easy
way back to it. Same with the link to the catalog which is the last
link in the menu and I don't want to torture people using the tab key.

You can test it out at http://www.joneslibrary.org/newbanner13.html

Thanks,

Seth