Re: [EXTERNAL] Questions regarding keyboard-guidelines

Only interactive elements should be focusable while tabbing but there may be very few exceptions, e.g. those (i) icons that show some additional information in a 'tooltip' when you hover over them. Either you make them keyboard focusable so that the tooltip appears on focus as well, or you make them interactive, i.e. buttons that show the tooltip when clicked (often called "toggletips"). Neither choice is perfect but both may be considered acceptable.

Within UI widgets such as tab bars, menus, tree views, and toolbars, it is common to provide a keyboard interface that uses arrow keys to move between elements rather than tabbing. This is so that it is possible for keyboard users to quickly get past the widget if they don't want to use it. They tab into it, use arrow keys within it (if they want to), and tab out of it. It isn't normal, necessary, or appropriate to provide arrow key navigation outside of widgets, for example between buttons, links, text, etc. in standard web content.

Mark

________________________________
From: Katharina Stella Hasenlust | Universitaet Bremen <hasenlus@uni-bremen.de>
Sent: Thursday 23 November 2023 14:42
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Questions regarding keyboard-guidelines

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Hello,



Unfortunately, I have problems understanding the guidelines "2.1.1 Keyboard" and "2.4.3 Focus Order".

My specific questions would be:

-Which elements should  be focusable - only interactive elements or also non-interactive content such as text? (There is contradictory information about this on the Internet)

-Do the guidelines imply that the user must be able to only use the tab key to access all focussed elements on a screen? Or would the arrow keys or a combination of tab and arrow keys also be permitted? Are there any rules on how such a combination of tab and arrow keys should be implemented?


An answer to my questions would be incredibly helpful.


Thank you in advance for your feedback.