Accessible Interactive Elements, Forms & Buttons
If you link out to an outside web-based form, check its reading order and how well it works with a screen reader. Tab order and proper labeling of form fields and buttons is important to those who are blind or physically disabled.
Ensure that any action that uses a mouse, can also be completed by a keyboard.
People with carpal tunnel and other mobility issues often cannot use a mouse. While there are more and more input device and software options such as speech to text software and touchpads, keyboard accessibility remains an important input format for many assistive technologies.
- Whatever the operation or behavior, make sure a mouse is not required.
- Try to navigate the web page without a mouse. Use the following keyboard keys to navigate
and interact with the web page:
- Tab
- Arrow keys
- Enter
- Spacebar
Keyboard commands clearly provided (and common operating system and browser keyboard commands) may also be used. - Could you complete the course without using a mouse?
Test interactive learning objects with a screen reader
Even if something is keyboard accessible, objects, buttons or input fields may not be properly labeled which would make the learning object inaccessible to someone using a screen reader.
If the web page with the interactive object or behavior on the webpage has passed the keyboard only test (above), try it out with a screen reader.
- Does the screen reader read the button labels?
- Are any changes made to the webpage by scripts or user interaction, made understandable to the blind or low-vision user?