JavaZone 2010 - Keyboard navigation in Web apps is NOT optional
Keyboard navigation such as shortcuts, access keys, tab index and component controls are often overlooked or dismissed entirely in favour of a mouse-only interface. But people who use the apps we build require keyboard navigation to be effective and avoid physical injury. What was once standard practice in systems and applications development goes from bad to downright terrible when you realise your shiny new app is being made to run in a browser and all the standard keys are ”taken” by the browser. To add insult to injury, browsers do not use the same keys for the same shortcuts.
The talk shows the why and how from a non-programming standpoint by using examples from applications that have successfully implemented keyboard navigation, those who have not, and by showing how we did it in when rebuilding the central application for the Norwegian Government pension fund in Flex.
Jon Gunnar Wold
Jon Gunnar Wold is an experienced speaker and workshop facilitator and is working as a senior usability and design advisor in one of the largest agile projects in Norway, rebuilding the central application for the Norwegian Government pension fund in Flex. Jon Gunnar is a veteran of RIA since working as the lead designer on the highly successful classified ad site FINN.no and has a deep understanding of the usabiliy and accessibility of web forms and web applications through repeated usabilitytesting of web interfaces.