Techniques for WCAG 2.0

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G202: Ensuring keyboard control for all functionality

Applicability

All technologies that support interactive operation.

This technique relates to:

Description

The objective of this technique is to provide keyboard operation for all the functionality of the page. When all functionality of content can be operated through a keyboard or keyboard interface, it can be operated by those with no vision as well as by those who must use alternate keyboards or input devices that act as keyboard emulators like speech input software or on-screen keyboards.

To implement this technique, first determine what functionality is available to users on the page. In this step, it is important to consider functions performed using both the mouse and the keyboard together. Examples of functionality include the use of physical controls such as links, menus, buttons, checkboxes, radio buttons and form fields as well as the use of features like drag and drop, selecting text, resizing regions or bringing up context menus. Other examples of functionality may based on tasks such as adding or removing an item from a shopping cart or initiating a chat session with a sales representative.

Once the functionality of the content has been determined, the author verifies that each of the functions identified can be performed using only the keyboard.

Note: This does not necessarily mean that each of the individual controls can be used from the keyboard as long as there are multiple methods to perform the same function available on the page. Authors are advised to consider how users will discover any keyboard equivalents which are available.

Examples

Tests

Procedure

  1. Identify all functionality on the content.

  2. Check that all functionality can be accessed using only the keyboard.

Expected Results

If this is a sufficient technique for a success criterion, failing this test procedure does not necessarily mean that the success criterion has not been satisfied in some other way, only that this technique has not been successfully implemented and can not be used to claim conformance.