Keyboard navigation
Standard keyboard navigation commands support sighted individuals navigating with a keyboard, voice recognition software, and switch devices.
Only interactive elements within a page receive keyboard focus, such as buttons, links, and form elements. Paragraph text, headings, and images are not interactive, so they do not receive focus.
Note:
While standard keyboard navigation may work with screen readers, this is not universal and screen readers interact with content differently.
Keystrokes
| Action | Keystrokes |
|---|---|
| Move forward | Tab |
| Move backward | Shift+Tab |
| Select form elements (for example, fields, buttons) | Spacebar |
| Navigate radio buttons, menu lists | Arrows (↑ ↓) |
| Scroll content | Arrows (← → ↑ ↓) |
| Close modals, dialog boxes, pop-ups | Esc |
Related criteria
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines tied to this topic are as follows: