RE: Auto-Tabbing - Is this ever allowed?

Ø  If the page is well designed with Region Landmarks for structure and Headings for content context, then navigating from the top allows the user to be in control.

If you are a screen reader user yes.  If you are a keyboard-only user it's not so simply.  Most browsers never provided keyboard support for headings and landmark.  Plug-ins or bookmarklets are available but this may not always be an option.  If a proper skip navigation link or use of the Paypal skipto module are available then that would help.

Jonathan

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Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
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jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com<mailto:jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com>

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From: David Best [mailto:davebest@cogeco.ca]
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2015 9:10 AM
To: lwatson@paciellogroup.com; 'Phill Jenkins'
Cc: 'Jim Allan'; 'WAI-IG'
Subject: RE: Auto-Tabbing - Is this ever allowed?

I agree leaving the focus at the top of the page creates a more consistent behaviour. If the page is well designed with Region Landmarks for structure and Headings for content context, then navigating from the top allows the user to be in control.
David

From: Léonie Watson [mailto:lwatson@paciellogroup.com]
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2015 4:44 AM
To: 'Phill Jenkins'
Cc: 'Jim Allan'; 'WAI-IG'
Subject: 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.

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Léonie Watson - Senior accessibility engineer
@LeonieWatson @PacielloGroup PacielloGroup.com