Re: Navigation/performaing an action within a grid

Hi Hadi;

Nice capture proposal coming out of last week's sometimes confusing [for me]
discussions.

1. What happens if the grid cell is in Action mode, it contains actionable
elements, and it also has a grid embedded in it that contains actionable
elements itself?

2. As a visual keyboard user, I like the thought of having a mode that [I'm
assuming] instantly shows all actionable elements in the grid cell, text
fields in particular; but should Navigation be the default mode instead?
   = The DHTML tables I've run across expose links, check boxes, buttons,
etc but don't expose text fields and areas till they are clicked.
   = This is the default mode spreadsheets use in my experience.
   = Does the "show widget role" guidance require specific styling guidance?

        * Is this part of what you had in mind?

3. Action mode being the default works for the first grid cell but what
happens focus is on the last actionable element in a cell and tab is
pressed?
   = Being default, this suggests to me that pressing tab should keep input
mode in Action mode and move focus to the next cell with an actionable
element in it.
   = Isn't this closer to how spreadsheets work?

4. The proposal suggests a Tab press moves focus out of the grid entirely
when in Action mode and focus is on the last actionable element.Perhaps a
Tab press should act more like an F2 press first then have it move focus out
of the grid?
   = I'm assuming F2 keeps focus on the current cell.
   = Another assumption is, while still different, this action will be
closer to what the novice , standard data table user expects as opposed to
what is now proposed - focus leaves the table.

5. I think the indication should be on the elements in the cell themselves.
   "If the elements in a cell contain applicable action items, some styling
effect should provide this information to the user. Can browser's status bar
used for conveying such information?"

6. The arrow keys work inside groups of radio [and check?] buttons?

7. Should Arrow keys move focus as described if in Action mode and input
focus is on the last actionable element?

8. Does Cntrl+Tab move focus out of  a Text area?

9. The user of standard tables will be confused when they run across DHTML
tables.
    = Can this styleguide provide visual style guidance that helps user
recognition on sites containing standard and DHTML tables without leaving
the developer confused]?.

Earl


On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 9:43 AM, Hadi Rangin <hadi@uiuc.edu> wrote:

>
> Hello,
>
>
>
> As a follow-up to our discussion yesterday during the teleconference, I
> suggest the following Navigation/Action modes when dealing with grids.
>
> It is probably not a perfect solution and I am sure there are a lot of
> details that need to be clarified but I think it is a good compromise.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Hadi
>
>
>
> There will be two major mode when dealing with grids:
>
> 1. Navigation mode (Escape)
>
> 2. Action mode (F2; Default mode)
>
>
>
> Entering and leaving a grid:
>
> * Tab key moves the focus to the table container as a whole; not to a cell
> or anything else.
>
> * Once the focus is on the grid, then user can choose to either stay in the
> Default mode (Action mode) or switch to Navigation mode
>
>
>
> Action mode:
>
> * Next tab moves the focus to the next focusable element (links, radio
> boxes, check boxes, buttons, conbo boxes, input, text area or whatever
> focusable elements)
>
> * If a cell contains one or multiple focusable elements, the tab key stops
> at each element depending on their document orders before going to another
> focusable element in a different cell.
>
> * When the last focusable element has been reached or there is no focusable
> element at all, the next tab moves the focus out of the grid.
>
> * In the case of radio and select boxes, the selection can be done using up
> and down arrow keys once the focus is on such elements.
>
> * in the case of check box element, the checking/unchecking can be done
> using the Space or Enter keys.
>
> * in the case of buttons or links, Space and Enter keys can trigger them.
>
> * in the case of Input and Text area, these fields are editable as soon as
> the focus is on these elements.
>
> * When the focus is on Input or Text area elements, main navigation keys
> work like any typical editing environment. Note that we are in Action mode.
>
> * At any time user can press Escape key to switch to Navigation mode and
> bypass all focusable elements in the grid and move out of the grid.
>
>
>
> Navigation mode:
>
> * Once the focus is on the grid itself, any left, right, up, or down key
> takes the navigation focus to the position 1,1 in the grid regardless it is
> a simple or complex, unified or non-unified grid.
>
> * From this starting position, the main navigation keys moves the focus (if
> applicable) to logical direction (right arrow to the next cell on the right,
> left arrow to the previous cell on the left, up arrow to the cell above, and
> down arrow to the cell below the current cell.
>
> * No wrapping is permitted.
>
> * No cell including cells with no content is skipped.
>
> * If the focus is on an actionable items, user can press F2 to enter the
> Action mode, tab to the desired item, and perform the desired action, e.g.
> check a check box, modify a select box, or edit or modify an input field.
>
> * It is the job of assistive technologies to provide information about the
> nature of the elements within a cell. For example, "Editable text box". So
> assistive technology users (e.g. screen reader users) know that the current
> cell contain editable text box.
>
> * If the elements in a cell contain applicable action items, some styling
> effect should provide this information to the user. Can browser's status bar
> used for conveying such information?
>
>
>
>
>
>