RE: DHTML Style Guide - proposed behavior for Rich Text Editor

wai-xtech-request@w3.org wrote on 01/09/2008 03:26:09 PM:

> 
> Hi Becky,
> Also the toolbar could use the only tab stop and then left and right 
arrows
> could be used to navigate toolbar controls.
> Victor
> 
Yes, I thought we had discussed the toolbar behavior so I didn't provide 
the details here.  However, I don't see anything in the Style Guide 
document so we should add toolbar to the list.   I know the group 
discussed arrow key navigation through the toolbar and whether or not 
disabled toolbar items should receive focus.  Somehow that didn't get 
written up. 

Here is a quick summary of what I remember from the discussion:
The first enabled toolbar button is in the tab order of the page. In left 
to right languages this button will be the first enabled toolbar button 
starting from the left.
With focus on a toolbar button left and right arrow keys navigate to the 
enabled buttons in the toolbar. 
Disabled toolbar buttons are not in the navigation and do not receive 
focus.  This mimics the behavior of toolbars on the Mac.  I don't know of 
any keyboard navigable toolbars in Windows applications. 
There still needs to be discussion of the behavior of controls such as 
comboboxes, dropdown menus and combobuttons included in toolbars. For 
example, combobuttons currently have two tab stops - one for the default 
action of the button and one for the dropdown portion of the button, how 
should this be handled when the combobutton is in a toolbar? 

Becky Gibson
Web Accessibility Architect
                                                       
IBM Emerging Internet Technologies
5 Technology Park Drive
Westford, MA 01886
Voice: 978 399-6101; t/l 333-6101
Email: gibsonb@us.ibm.com
blog: WebA11y


wai-xtech-request@w3.org wrote on 01/09/2008 03:26:09 PM:

> 
> Hi Becky,
> Also the toolbar could use the only tab stop and then left and right 
arrows
> could be used to navigate toolbar controls.
> Victor
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wai-xtech-request@w3.org [mailto:wai-xtech-request@w3.org] On 
Behalf
> Of Becky Gibson
> Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 12:18 PM
> To: wai-xtech@w3.org
> Subject: DHTML Style Guide - proposed behavior for Rich Text Editor
> 
> 
> My action item from the January 8, 2008 DHTML Style Guide meeting was to
> write up the behaviors for a Rich Text Editor Widget.
> 
> 
> The edit control is provided by the browser. The edit control provides 
the 
> keyboard support for navigating, adding, removing and selecting text so 
> that behavior is not defined by the DHTML Style Guide.  The browser 
should 
> also provide a keyboard mechanism for navigating into and out of the 
edit 
> control.    Within Internet Explorer the edit control is put into the 
tab 
> order of the page and can be navigated into, out of, and through using 
the 
> tab and shift-tab keys like any standard form control.   Firefox also 
puts 
> the edit control into the tab order.  However, Firefox has actually 
> implemented tab as an action within the edit control so currently there 
is 
> no keyboard way to navigate out of the editor component once focus has 
> been placed inside of it. 
> 
> A rich text editor widget needs to provide a user interface for 
> interacting with the browser provided edit control.  Interaction between 

> the user interface and editor is defined here assuming that a toolbar is 

> used. 
> If not provided by the browser, the rich text editor widget must provide 
a 
> keyboard mechanism to move into and out of the edit control.  Tab and 
> shift-tab are the recommended keystrokes. This additional implementation 

> is necessary for Firefox until Firefox provides an alternative keyboard 
> mechanism to navigate out of the edit control.
> The toolbar or other user interface component associated with the editor 

> is placed in the tab order immediately before the editor.
> To set an attribute on text within the edit control the user sets focus 
> into the edit control, moves the insertion point, selects text and 
presses 
> shift-tab to move focus from the editor back to the toolbar.  The user 
> navigates through the toolbar (see toolbar behavior) to a desired 
> attribute and invokes that attribute. 
> When an attribute is invoked, that attribute is applied to the selected 
> text in the editor and focus moves back into the editor at the previous 
> insertion point with the selection intact. 
> 
> Options: 
> Rather than using shift-tab to move focus from within the editor to the 
> toolbar, another key combination could be used (alt-up arrow, 
> ctrl-shift-letter, etc.).  This would eliminate the need to put the user 

> interface control, in this example a toolbar, into the tab order 
> immediately before the editor component.  However, there are drawbacks 
to 
> using a different keystroke to navigate to the user interface: 1) it is 
> not as "discoverable" as relying on the standard tab/shift-tab behavior; 

> 2) it is difficult to find key combinations which are not already 
captured 
> by the browser or assistive technology. 
> Focus could stay within the toolbar after the user invokes an attribute. 

> The user would then have to press an additional key to move focus back 
> into the editor.  This would allow multiple attributes to be set on the 
> current selection without having to return back to the user interface 
but 
> it would add an extra key sequence after setting just a single 
attribute. 
>  Requiring a keystroke to move focus back into the editor would also 
> require modifying the toolbar behavior to intercept this keystroke and 
to 
> know how to set focus back to the component (the editor) that the 
toolbar 
> is associated with. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Becky Gibson
> Web Accessibility Architect
> 
> IBM Emerging Internet Technologies
> 5 Technology Park Drive
> Westford, MA 01886
> Voice: 978 399-6101; t/l 333-6101
> Email: gibsonb@us.ibm.com
> blog: WebA11y
> 
> 
> 
> 
>

Received on Tuesday, 15 January 2008 16:43:24 UTC