Tabs do not conform to W3 Accesibility pattern

[julczka]

Which exact UI Library version are you using? For example: 1.0.1 - don't just write v1.

1.6.0-rc

Bug summary

Tabs provided by UI library do not filfill tabs pattern provided by W3C guidlines

Specifics

Each tab is "tabbable" with the Tab key. According to the pattern you should be able to switch between the tabs with arrow keys (left-right or up-down) depending on the orientation.

Steps to reproduce

use tabs with keyboard

Expected result / actual result

You should be able to swithc between the tabs with arrow keys. You should be able to pick an active tabs in two ways: automartic (tab becomes active when it recieves focus) and manual (tab becomes active when is selected with Space or Enter)

[nielslyngsoe]

Hi @julczka

Sounds good to me, feel free to implement this feature :-)

[jonnymuir]

Hi @julczka & @nielslyngsoe

I have an outstanding pull request #996 for making the "more" functionality accessible on tabs on the issue #987

Once this is resolved I would love to pick this one up and implement the keyboard arrow keys as per the w3c guidelines.

[jonnymuir]

Hi all. I would like to pick this up and aim to have it done in the next week or two. I even intend to use it as the subject for a talk on accessible tabbed interfaces… watch this space!

[nielslyngsoe]

Hi @jonnymuir. That is super interesting. I'm looking forward to hear what you figure out, and as well notice if you get ideas for how to make it work from a general perspective let us know. As in if some other things needs to change to make this work from a A11Y and UX perspective.

Thanks in advance

[jonnymuir]

Hi!

Just a quick note to say I am working through this. I have got the keyboard stuff just about behaving, I have a few more tweaks and tests to do then I will submit a pull request.

It probably won’t perfect with all the wcag pattern requirements (most noticeably the tabpanel requirements and possibly some aria stuff), but it will fulfil the keyboard requirements. What I will do is get it into good shape and then work out what is the next highest priority pragmatically and raise new issues. Otherwise it could drag on for ages and I think it is probably better to split it into sizeable chunks so you get some accessibly value out of it sooner.

Also agree, worth thinking how we can help bring more of the accessibility thinking in sooner in the lifecycle. Not a criticism by the way - you can see some great work here already, but we may be able to go further (and it will help make the design of the product even better / easier)? I’ll bring that discussion back to the accessibility guild.

[nielslyngsoe]

Hi @jonnymuir I agree, and I like your thoughts. Looking forward to your next steps, and let me know how I can complement your efforts.

[jonnymuir]

I think I've probably done enough on this one for it to be good to go as a right sized fix. See what you think.

#1112