- From: Jens Meiert <jens.meiert@erde3.com>
- Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2003 14:38:13 +0100 (MET)
- To: "W3C WAI" <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Before shooting first I want to ask what purpose the 'tabindex' handling recommendation has, referring to the 'HTML Techniques for WCAG 2.0' [1]. In 9.5 [2] it is recommended, not to use the 'tabindex' attribute to leap e.g. a set of navigation links, but in another case (see 14.1 [3]) it is illustrated to use 'tabindex' to change the (tab) order of form elements, what I perceive as questionable (and per se contradictory), not only in relation to 9.5. Can anyone of you please explain this to me? -- Normally I'd think it should be recommended just the other way around, thus allowing to jump over e.g. navigation links (because there should also be alternative <link /> elements to represent a site's structure, btw), but not recommending to violently change the order of form elements (where I only see the risk to irritate users). So I wonder (from Usability perspective, too), what sense the 'form case' (and its example from 14.1) makes: <form action="#" method="post"> <p> <input tabindex="2" type="text" name="field1" /> <input tabindex="1" type="text" name="field2" /> <input tabindex="3" type="submit" name="submit" /> </p> </form> If I imagine 'field1' represents a user's email address (which is displayed first), ain't it 'curious' being at first asked for my name (as e.g. expected in 'field2'), when starting to access the form via pressing 'tab'? On the other hand I often encountered cases where I really wished there was a tab order allowing me to jump over a site's navigation. But, I didn't want to shoot first... ;) All the best, Jens. [1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/WD-WCAG20-HTML-TECHS/ [2] http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/WD-WCAG20-HTML-TECHS/#linkgroups_tabindex [3] http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/WD-WCAG20-HTML-TECHS/#form_tabindex -- Jens Meiert Interface Architect http://meiert.com
Received on Sunday, 9 November 2003 08:38:15 UTC