RE: Auto-Tabbing - Is this ever allowed?

From: Phill Jenkins [mailto:pjenkins@us.ibm.com] 
Sent: 28 May 2015 23:37

I thought there was some initial consensus with using the Google home page
and the Log-in page example that the keyboard focus placement in the entry
field was best practice. Are you suggesting the keyboard focus be placed
somewhere else?  Where?

 

I think leaving focus alone so that people get a consistent experience makes
sense. Manipulating focus is unexpected behaviour, and that actually makes
people work harder instead of making things easier.

 

It isn’t even close to being a convention in the situations you mention
above, let alone on the web in general. So people find themselves in a part
of the page they weren’t expecting to be in. For a keyboard user that may
mean extra keystrokes to get where they really wanted to go, for a screen
reader/magnifier user it may mean completely missed content, for someone
with a cognitive disability it may mean enough of an unexpected disruption
it stops them from completing any task.

 

Leaving focus at the top of the page is the expected convention. People
understand it, are familiar with it, and have strategies for navigating
where they want to go based on that understanding.

 

 

Léonie.

 

-- 

Léonie Watson - Senior accessibility engineer

@LeonieWatson @PacielloGroup PacielloGroup.com