facet
keyboard
Reaching and driving an interface without a pointer.
30 terms across 3 categories · all facets
component
- Command palette
A keyboard-summoned overlay whose single search box finds and runs any command or destination in an application by name.
- Keyboard key
A key drawn as a small keycap in running text or a menu, so a shortcut reads as something you press rather than something you say.
- Keyboard shortcuts dialog
The panel opened by pressing question mark that lists every shortcut in the application, grouped by area.
interaction
- Access key
A single letter, usually shown underlined, that jumps straight to a menu or control once the access modifier is held.
- Chorded shortcut
A shortcut whose keys are held down together like a chord, in contrast to one typed as a sequence of separate presses.
- Key repeat
A held key firing repeatedly after an initial delay, which is how arrow keys scroll and backspace deletes more than one character.
- Key sequence
A shortcut typed as an ordered run of presses, where the first key opens a mode and the next chooses within it.
- Keyboard shortcut
A key or key combination that runs a command directly, giving practised users a path that skips the menus and the pointer entirely.
- Modifier key
A key held to change what another input means, so the same click or keystroke can copy instead of move, or add instead of replace.
- Nudge
Moving or changing a value by one small fixed step with an arrow key, with a modifier switching to a larger step.
- Quasimode
A temporary mode held open by the user, such as a key kept down, so it cannot be forgotten and ends the moment the hold ends.
- Range select
Choosing a contiguous run of items by marking one end and holding Shift while marking the other, selecting everything between them.
- Roving tabindex
A focus technique where only one item in a group is in the tab order and arrow keys move that position, so Tab enters and leaves the whole group once.
- Selection follows focus
A widget where moving focus also selects, so arrowing through tabs or a listbox changes the selection immediately rather than on a second press.
accessibility
- Active descendant
A focus technique where DOM focus stays on a container or input and aria-activedescendant names which child is active, used when focus must not move.
- Character key shortcuts
Single letter shortcuts that fire without a modifier, which must be switchable off or remappable because speech input and screen readers trigger them by accident.
- Dragging alternative
A second, non-dragging route to anything a drag can do, such as arrow keys or a move-to menu on a sortable list.
- Focus order
The sequence keyboard focus follows through a page, which should match reading order instead of source quirks or positive tabindex values.
- Focus ring
The visible outline drawn around the element that currently holds keyboard focus, showing where the next keypress will land.
- Focus trap
A constraint that keeps keyboard focus cycling inside one region until that region is dismissed.
- Focus visible
A focus style shown only when focus arrived by keyboard or another non-pointer route, so a mouse click does not leave a ring behind.
- Focusable disabled
A control styled as unavailable but left in the tab order with aria-disabled, so a reader can find it and learn why it is off.
- Focusable scroll region
Giving a scrollable box its own tab stop so a keyboard user can scroll it, which matters whenever the content inside holds no focusable element of its own.
- Initial focus
Where focus lands when a view, dialog, or page first appears, chosen deliberately rather than left on the body or dumped on the first close button.
- Keyboard trap
A place keyboard focus can enter but not leave by keyboard alone, stranding anyone who is not using a pointer.
- Positive tabindex
Using tabindex values above zero to force an order, which yanks those elements to the front of the whole page sequence and is almost always a bug.
- Skip link
A link at the very start of a page, revealed on focus, that jumps past repeated navigation to the main content.
- Spatial navigation
Moving focus by direction rather than by sequence, so arrow keys, a D-pad, or a TV remote jump to the nearest control up, down, left, or right.
- Tab stop
One position in the tab sequence: a place the Tab key can reach, counted once even when the widget it belongs to holds many focusable parts.
- Tabbable
Reachable by the Tab key, as opposed to merely focusable: an element with tabindex of -1 can take focus from script but never from Tab.