Testing your site for keyboard navigation will ensure that keyboard users can access your site.
As a bonus, sites that can be navigated with a keyboard can also likely be navigated using other input devices.
Generally, pressing tab
moves focus between elements and pressing enter
will interact with them.
If you are using Safari, option-tab
is the default keyboard shortcut to move focus between elements.
Additional keyboard shortcuts are described here: WebAIM - Keyboard Accessibility
It is not enough to simply tab through a webpage from start to end. While navigating the site, keep these things in mind:
- Interactive elements should be functional using only keyboard shortcuts.
- The focused element should be visible and have an obvious focus style. See article: "Quick Tip: Never remove CSS outlines".
- Focus should move between elements as they appear on the page and not jump back and forth.
- There should be a way to skip past lengthy navigation items. See article: "How–to: Use Skip Navigation links".