Best Keyboard Accessibility Guidelines

Keyboard Accessibility Guidelines to Create Best Experience for Keyboard Nerd

We will examine four ways to improve online user experiences for people who don't use a mouse in this article. Let's examine each one in turn.

Use the keyboard to access menus, buttons, and links.

In order for the keyboard to be usable, all active controls must be reachable, or " focused. "

Good news: interactive HTML elements for links and controls, such as buttons and drop-down form components, have keyboard support built-in. They are automatically part of the focus order in the browser and have standard keyboard commands associated with them.

Things can get complicated, however. Custom controls , such as accordions and custom dialogs, are used in many modern web applications. Many of these are from widget toolkits. Typically, they are coded using static HTML elements, such as divs, that do not Have native keyboard support. Adding interactive behaviors to custom controls usually requires scripting, and these scripts typically address mouse operation, but rarely address keyboard focus and operation.

Web Accessibility Initiative's Scalable Rich Internet Applications specification, or WAI-ARIA, was developed to address accessibility shortcomings in custom controls. The standard emphasizes the importance of keyboard focus.

The HTML tab index attribute can be used to set a custom control as focusable, which makes it much easier to use on a keyboard when used properly. Giving a control a tab index value of "0" adds it to the focus order in the order A menu item in a drop-down navigation menu should only receive focus when the menu is expanded. It appears in the code. When a custom control has a tab index value of "-1", scripting can control when and how it becomes focusable. and should be focused using arrow keys rather than the tab key.

Utilize keyboard-based controls

Assuring that custom controls receive focus is only half the battle --- you can't get to control if you can't make it work. Keyboard usability requires that controls can be operated with standard commands using the keyboard.

Adding custom controls to a website or app requires careful planning and some scripting. As an example, a custom button must be scripted to support the standard method of button activation --by using SPACEBAR. Modal dialogs must be scripted to close with the ESC key .

Most People Are Comfortable Using The Spacebar. Hence It Is Necessary To Add Such Custom Controls To A Website. You Can Take Some Popular Spacebar Clicker Websites To Do So. Many Spacebar Counter Sites Add This Custom Control In Their Website To Make Users Click The spacebar more times to increase cps. 

Once again, WAI-ARIA comes to the rescue! WAI-ARIA Best Practices specify standard keyboard behavior for a range of widgets and controls that you might consider using in your website or app. So, when you're creating or selecting a widget or control, make sure it supports keyboard commands as defined in the WAI-ARIA Design Patterns.

Here is the standard keyboard behavior for a slider widget (extracted from the WAI-ARIA design patterns document):

• TAB moves the focus into and out of the slider.
• The RIGHT ARROW and UP ARROW increase the slider's value.
• DOWN ARROW and LEFT ARROW decrease the value of the slider.
• HOME and END are set to the minimum and maximum values ​​of the slider.
• You can optionally increment or decrement the slider by a given amount with PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN.

These behaviors need to be scripted into the custom control--they do not appear automatically from the HTML or WAI-ARIA markup.
 

Basically, you can't put code div role = "slider"> on a page and expect it to work as a slider, and that the browser will support the expected keyboard commands, as it does with HTML button, link, and input elements For a custom control to be interactive, accessible, and precisely, all control information and behaviors must be provided in code.
 

It is, therefore, best to use native controls whenever possible . When no native control fits the bill, use a custom control as a last resort. Using HTML buttons as an example, they support keyboard accessibility by default. You don't need to create a custom button.
 

Also remember: even if it is possible to make a complex design pattern keyboard accessible, simplicity of interaction is often the best way to minimize errors and maximize the quality of the user experience.

Controls should be arranged logically in a sequence

Keyboard interaction with complex web applications can be time-consuming, requiring users to move through every element on a page to reach the one they are looking for. For keyboard users, it is important to pay attention to focus.
 

1. Focus order should match the visual layout .Ensure the underlying code sequence reflects the visual layout by paying attention to how controls are sequenced.
2. Focus on hidden features like drop-down menus or expandable content only after they have been revealed . There's no need to make keyboard users click through items in a hidden drop-down menu.

Display which control is in focus

Focus indicators are one of the easiest ways to improve keyboard usability; unfortunately, they are often overlooked. Visually distinguishing the control that currently has focus from other controls simplifies navigating through an interface and reduces the chance of a user inadvertently activating a control.

Although most of the modern browsers use a clear focus indicator, some browsers use a light gray dotted border as the default indicator, making it difficult to spot the focus. Additionally, some websites use CSS that explicitly removes the focus outline, so there is no visual indication. "reset.css" stylesheets often set the outline to "0" or "none".

A single line of CSS can make sure that there is a visual indication of focus. Do the same thing for controls when they receive keyboard focus if your design already includes a visual change for mouse hover events. The following code snippet creates a 2-pixel solid blue border around links when they receive focus:

a: focus {outline: 2px solid blue;}

The focused approach should be applied to all elements that receive attention, including custom controls.
 

Below is a sample

Browsers (like Firefox shown below) show focus using only a dotted outline. The Pastry Box Project's link text changes color from black to blue when focused on using the keyboard in order to reinforce the visual indicator.

The link in focus is highlighted with a dotted outline and changes color to blue. In this example, the visual indication could be further enhanced by changing the background color of the link text or adding a solid border.

Usability test for keyboards

Observed usability evaluations are the best way to gather feedback and insights about usability. You can, however, test keyboard usability yourself.

Try using the TAB key to navigate through all active controls in an interface (SHIFT + TAB reverses tab focus order). Make The arrow keys should enable navigation through a combo box menu when it has focus, sure that each control receives focus and is indicated by a visible indicator, that it receives focus in a logical sequence, and that it can be operated using standard keyboard commands. for example.

If you solve any problems you find, you'll be well on your way to a great keyboard experience.