Keyboard navigation
Also called: Keyboard accessibility
Using a website with only the keyboard: Tab to move, Enter or Space to activate, Esc to close.
Definition
Many people navigate without a mouse. Every interactive element must be reachable with Tab, in a logical order, with a visible focus indicator, and must work with Enter, Space or arrow keys as appropriate.
In practice
You can Tab to the "Accept cookies" banner but not to its buttons, so keyboard users can never close it.
Learn it in context
Lessons that use this term.
Related terms
- Focus trapKeeping keyboard focus inside an open modal so users can't tab into the hidden page behind it.
- Focus orderThe order in which the Tab key moves through interactive elements.
- WCAGThe Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the main international standard for accessibility.
- ARIAHTML attributes that tell assistive technology what custom elements are and what state they're in.