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All For Web For All

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GUIDELINES 2.1

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Overview

Tab accessibility primarily focuses on making all functionality available from a keyboard. Many people access the web through only their keyboard, specifically with the tab button.

Who is impacted

Users with motor disabilities, blind users, and anyone who relies on keyboard navigation instead of a mouse.

How to test

Try navigating your entire website using only the Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, and arrow keys without touching the mouse.

Resources

Visit W3C Understanding Keyboard Accessible and WebAIM Keyboard Testing for detailed guidance.

Keyboard Accessibility

All functionality that is available by mouse should also be available by keyboard. This includes navigating between interactive elements, activating buttons and links, operating menus and dropdowns, and filling out forms. The Tab key is the primary means of moving between focusable elements on a page.

Users should be able to tab to every interactive element, activate it with Enter or Space, and never get trapped in a component without a way to tab out. This is known as a keyboard trap and is a serious accessibility barrier.

Skip Links

Skip navigation links allow keyboard users to bypass repetitive content like navigation menus and jump directly to the main content. A skip link is typically the first focusable element on the page and becomes visible when it receives focus. This saves keyboard users from having to tab through dozens of navigation links on every page.