2.1.1 Keyboard

With a simple site, if your web pages are coded correctly, this criterion shouldn't pose too many problems. For the most part, the tab order just follows the order in the html code. However, the more additional features your site has, the more difficult this might be. The criterion states:

All functionality of the content is operable through a keyboard interface without requiring specific timings for individual keystrokes, except where the underlying function requires input that depends on the path of the user's movement and not just the endpoints.

How do you keyboard navigate

Fortunately, this is a criterion that you can easily test for yourself. You might even develop a preference for using a keyboard rather than a mouse to navigate.

**Key strokes for navigation**
Key	Action	Notes
`TAB`	Moves through interactive elements on the page	Any item that you can use a mouse to interact with, should appear when tabbing through.
`SHIFT` + `TAB`	Moves backwards through interactive elements	This is useful if you realise you have missed something and want to go back.
`ENTER`	Activates a link or button, or selects an option	Commonly used for SUBMIT buttons, e.g. to enter login details.
`SPACE`	Activates a button, checks/unchecks a checkbox, expands a dropdown menu	Drop down menus can be problematic, so it is worth checking this one carefully.
`UP` and `DOWN` arrows	Moves through radio button options, menu options and autocomplete options; moves up and down the content by line	If you want to go up or down the page very slowly, this is the best option.
`SPACE` or `SHIFT` + `SPACE`	Scroll up or down by page	This is useful for moving up or down the page without missing any information.
`ESC`	Closes a dialogue box	Use carefully as it can close things you might not want to close.

There are additional keystrokes for navigating applications such as Word and PowerPoint. These will be addressed separately. There are also keyboard shortcuts for performing common actions such as save, copy and paste.