This is an archived snapshot of W3C's public bugzilla bug tracker, decommissioned in April 2019. Please see the home page for more details.

Bug 24201 - Allow data table navigation using the tab key by setting keyboard focus on the rows (columns).
Summary: Allow data table navigation using the tab key by setting keyboard focus on th...
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: HTML.next
Classification: Unclassified
Component: default (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: PC Windows NT
: P2 normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: This bug has no owner yet - up for the taking
QA Contact: HTML WG Bugzilla archive list
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2014-01-03 21:06 UTC by Devarshi Pant
Modified: 2016-04-28 15:00 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:


Attachments

Description Devarshi Pant 2014-01-03 21:06:25 UTC
Allow users to navigate table rows (columns) using the keyboard tab, which in turn conveys to a screen reader user the following information when the keyboard focus is on a specific row (column):
1. Associate the header information with every data cell. This would make navigating tables easier as a user only needs to tab, rather than use table reading keys. 
2. Tables with form fields would be easier to navigate as well. A user would tab in order to navigate to a row (column) and while the screen reader announces the cells and its header(s), the user hits the enter key to enter into the forms mode (PC cursor) to fill out the form field.
3. The announcements with a screen reader for a typical data table that uses this paradigm would be as follows:
3.1. When the virtual cursor is on the table, the user would hear how to navigate, like “Table uses tab key to navigate to row (column).” – Something that is currently done while navigating tree views, as in "tree view, n items: To move through or expand / collapse, use arrow keys,” etc.
3.2. The tab key navigation will first go over the column headers followed by rows, all the while following the rule listed in 2. 
It’s something I feel could be useful. And honestly, am not even sure if an aria role or an attribute would be able to accomplish it.

-Devarshi
Comment 1 Charles McCathieNevile 2016-04-28 15:00:10 UTC
This is an implementation issue, and screen readers tend to have table navigation modes already.