Re: Semantic implications of tabindex="0"?

Actually tabindex="-1" should be used for this purpose, since it ensures 
that the static element such as a heading never appears in the tab order, 
but will always be programmatically focusable using the .focus() method.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ramón Corominas" <listas@ramoncorominas.com>
To: "Adam Cooper" <cooperad@bigpond.com>
Cc: "'Karl Groves'" <karl@karlgroves.com>; "'Mike Elledge'" 
<melledge@yahoo.com>; <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2014 5:12 AM
Subject: Re: Semantic implications of tabindex="0"?


> Indeed, there are situations where it can be useful to set a tabindex="0" 
> in a heading or other element...
>
> For example, if you want to jump to a specific heading, it is sometimes 
> safer to use tabindex="0" and then focus() than simply href to the 
> heading's ID, especially if you are showing a dialog box or some kind of 
> content that is initially hidden when you activate the link. The simple <a 
> href="#whatever"> will not work because the content is hidden and the 
> anchor doesn't exist, but if you show the content and then use focus() the 
> jump will work fine. In this case, you can use a sequence like:
>
> 1. show content
> 2. save current tabindex
> 3. set tabindex="0"
> 4. focus()
> 5. restore old tabindex
>
> Thus, the focus is moved to the heading, but the element will be no longer 
> focusable, so it is less confusing if the users continues tabbing.
>
> With this technique I've not experienced this "phantom forms mode" nor the 
> "editable" issue (I've not tested in IE 11, though).
>
> Regards,
> Ramón.
>
> Adam wrote:
>
>>> “As a consequence, JAWS will read "editable" for the following  <h1 
>>> tabindex="0">Some heading</h1>”
>>
>> Just did some testing with JFW 15 & NVDA  2013 on Windows 7 using IE11, 
>> GC, FF: both JAWS and NVDA ‘activate’ a phantom forms mode (i.e., the 
>> corresponding sound is played), but only in IE.
>>
>> Neither screen reader announces ‘editable’ when the element receives 
>> focus in any of the browsers.
>>
>> Also, JAWS (not NVDA) only activates this phantom forms mode in IE11 when 
>> the tabindex=”0” is the first, not necessarily  focusable element on a 
>> page.
>
>

Received on Tuesday, 14 January 2014 15:15:37 UTC