Tab keyboard navigation is not WCAG compliant

The current keyboard navigation pattern for the tabpanel violates WCAG
2 in that it allows mouse users to select the order in which they view
tab content but does not afford keyboard users the same functionality.

There are many scenarios where this can negatively affect a keyboard
user's experience including but not limited to:

1) When tab activation causes interaction with a back end web
application, leading to changes of the state of that application
and/or delays while the application processes the request,
2) When application interaction is monitored using analytics that
leads to changes in the applications behavior

A better approach would be to follow the convention of using the arrow
keys to focus and the enter key to activate. This gives the user
control in the same way that a sighted mouse user has control.

Received on Wednesday, 23 October 2013 12:21:18 UTC