All Content is Accessible with Keyboard Alone

Assuming that a mouse will be used to navigate your site may impact users in negative ways. This is most commonly seen with menus that appear when hovering over a section of the page, widgets that do not have keyboard hooks, multimedia content that doesn't use an accessible player, etc. Make sure your site is fully usable with the only a keyboard. Flip your mouse upside-down and try it out! Make sure that your site is usable just typing, using the tab key, making menu selections and more.  The following are a few basic guidelines you should consider:

  • The tab order should match the visual order of your site, allowing keyboard-only users to logically navigate through site content.
  • Avoid the use of the Tabindex attribute. Some uses of Tabindex are acceptable under some scripting situations. Consider this article about the use of Tabindex.
  • Use "skip navigation" or "skip to main content" links at the top of your pages to easily access the main sections of your page.
  • Break up long pages into sections with anchor links.
  • All menus on site should be able to be accessed using the keyboard.
  • Do not use elements that only activate when a user hovers over items with a mouse, as keyboard-only or screen readers users will not be able to activate them.

Resources

Disability Resources (DRC) is YOUR resource for ensuring accessible content!

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