WCAG Guidelines 9.4 (Priority 3) says to create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects. The “tabindex” attribute is great because it does exactly that — it specifies the position of the current element in the tabbing order for the current document. But are they needed?
Download Web Axe Episode 24 (Tab Index — Why)
The basic code:
Links:
- WCAG Guidelines 9.4 (Priority 3)
- WCAG Techniques for logical tab order
- WCAG definition of “tabindex”
- WebAIM – Drawbacks to “tabindex”
One reply on “Tab Index – why and why not”
Just listened to the show, good info. The only time I felt it was necissary to use the tab index was an odd case where tabbing would cause a jump from over one of my form elements. I think it had something to do with floating text, but it was a quicker fix than trying to re-write the css.