The keyboard alone/alternative standard allows our customers to decide how they want to use our website and mobile app.
Customers who may have motor skill differences like broken arms, arthritis, tremors, or difficulty in using any minor motor skills due to physical disabilities will benefit from these standard practices. Customers who use technologies like screen magnification software also benefit from using keyboards accessibility, in conjunction with a mouse to navigate the desktop experience.
It is also common for people to use a keyboard to navigate quicker than mouse users.
Accessibility requirements
Our guidelines offer best practices to help make our sites and mobile and web apps more accessible for everyone. All of our vendors and partners must follow these guidelines as well.
Keyboard functionality
Some users will rely on only their keyboards, including alternative keyboards, as a way to navigate through different web and app experiences. It is one of the most important aspects of digital accessibility.
Form labels and groups of fields
Clearly written descriptive labels are required to make the form user experience more accessible. Read more to learn how to create proper descriptive labels.
Colour contrast ratios
Designers need to make sure there is a proper amount of colour contrast between the page background and text and with user interface elements like links, buttons, and headers.
Designing for colour-blindness
Colour blindness or colour vision deficiency must be taken into account when designing products. When one person sees blue another may see yellow.
Communicate the current state
Communicating the current state to our users lets them know if something has been selected or not amongst other indicators. Clearly outlining this is important as users will interact with products differently.
Announce state changes and errors
Be sure to announce the state change to our customers, especially any error messages, by using visual cues along with text to describe what has happened.
Colour cues
Colours like red and green can be hard to distinguish so utilizing those alone are not enough when indicating something is incorrect or correct.
Distinct elements
Design elements such as headers, tables, buttons and links need to be clear in order to ensure an accessible experience for all users, and to ensure the page function can be completed.
Calls to action (CTAs) and link text
A clear call to action or link text will let the user know exactly what their next steps are. They should outline a specific action and must not be vague.
