Re: Keyboard navigation in a web page

Do this:

1. Make the focus indicator extremely conspicuous, maybe 2 or 3 pixel-wide
line. Forget the faint dotted line nonesense. Better: allow the user to
customize the focus indicator, or choose from many.

2. Make links function as buttons. Spacebar should activate a link.
(Normally, spacebar activates a button that has focus, and Enter activates
the default button.) A link on a web page has focus AND is the default
button, so both keys should work.

3. Create a keystroke to route focus to the link containing selected
text. Then it becomes possible to search for a link.

4. When activating a link, set a mark on the activated link. When
returning to that page (using Alt + left arrow or backspace or whatever),
put focus on that link.

See this article for more suggestions on keyboard-only access:

http://www.interlog.com/~acantor/www8.htm 

Alan Cantor
Cantor + Associates
Workplace Accommodation Consultants
New e-mail address: acantor@interlog.com
http://www.interlog.com/~acantor

Received on Wednesday, 6 October 1999 18:17:33 UTC