mozilla/browserid — Issue #869: BrowserID needs to be more keyboard accessible
Author: jbonacci
Created: 2012-01-11 00:21:20+00:00
State: open

I have been getting mixed results using tab and arrow keys with BID and the RPs.
We should consider adding more support for keyboard accessibility or blocking it entirely.

This is primarily for desktop use since mobile devices are inherently not accessible (except by voice activation).

Examples on the Mac:
The browserid pop-up is fairly accessible with arrow keys and tabs in FireFox, although you can not really select links and other items, just fields and checkboxes.
Keyboard navigation through the Account Manager is unpredictable especially when listing emails for removal.
And, you can not get to the links just the fields.

Safari is a bit tougher since you can use arrow keys in the pop-up, but if you click the tab key, you lose the ability to navigate except by mouse.
Most of the Account Manager/BID page is inaccessible.
Once you select Sign Up or Sign In you can move around a bit with the keyboard, though.
Again navigation through the emails list is unpredictable.

By comparison - check out Google Chrome on Mac. You can reach most links just with the tab key (and of course shift-tab).
The Account Manager appears to be fully navigable.
The RPs are fairly navigable by keyboard as is the pop-up.

Opera fairs better than FF and Safari, but not as clean or predictable as Chrome.

Just for kicks trying IE8 on XP:
Navigation with keyboard through the main site and Account Manager is pretty good.
Navigation through the main part of the RPs is pretty good although you can not get directly to the Sign In button.
Navigation through the pop-up is also pretty good once you get the hang of tabs vs. arrow keys.

I will assume IE9 works as well as or better than IE8.

I will assume for now that Opera and Chrome on Windows and Linux work about the same as on Mac.