One of an ongoing series of articles discussing usability and accessibility issues in technology and the web; with tips, tricks and standards to improve the user’s overall experience.
It’s not impossible for users to have to use the keyboard; those with motor problems may find the mouse difficult to use no matter how large the target, so it’s always helps to make things easy to use for the keyboards users among us.
Beware drop down menus
In general, I’m not a fan of dropdown menus on the web. Most solutions are badly written and generally take over the browser, and don’t work if you disable Javascript or Flash (so won’t work with screenreaders). But the major point here is most solutions don’t play nicely with the keyboard. If the user cannot use the mouse, you’re stuck.
If you use drop down menus, then have an alternative means of navigation, such as a sitemap or important links at the bottom.
Beware tab ordering
There’s nothing worse than having to tab again and again. And again and again. Include a hidden “skip to content” for keyboard users to easily select so that they don’t have to tab through your navigation all the time (BBC News do this well).
Make it obvious what link has focus
Safari seems to be the only browser that outlines links whenever you have keyboard focus on them, so for the other browsers never underestimate how useful it can be. Use a:focus CSS to show the user where their focus is, even if it’s just a subtle outline or background colour change, or the same CSS as a:hover.
Set a default focus
Again, the usefulness of having a default focus in text boxes is easily overlooked. Consider if the page could be improved by including one, or indeed if it could hinder usability.
Try it yourself
It’s easy to test how simple it is to navigate a site using just the keyboard: just unplug the mouse. Are you able to easily get around, or are you hitting tab a lot?