Level A
If a keyboard shortcut is implemented in content using only letter (including upper- and lower-case letters), punctuation, number, or symbol characters, then at least one of the following is true:
- Turn off: A mechanism is available to turn the shortcut off;
- Remap: A mechanism is available to remap the shortcut to use one or more non-printable keyboard characters (e.g. Ctrl, Alt, etc);
- Active only on focus: The keyboard shortcut for a user interface component is only active when that component has focus.>
Explanation
When custom keyboard shortcuts consisting of a single character, or consecutive single characters are provided, it must be possible to turn them off or change them. This makes sure that people using speech recognition tools do not accidentaly trigger the shortcuts when the individual characters are mistakenly heard as part of another spoken command.
Responsibilities
- Content
- Design
- Development
- QA
Requirements
- A way is provided to turn off single character keyboard shortcuts, like a preference setting;
- A way is provided for users to change single character shortcuts into more verbose shortcuts.
Common mistakes
- Single character shortcuts are provided, but there is no way to turn them off or change them;
- Not allowing the user to switch off or remap keyboard shortcuts.
Official resources
- 2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts
- Understanding 2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts
- How to meet 2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts