Applet Navigation

[Roedy Green]

I got asked this question about Applet use by blind people. I did not
know the answer.

"One question I was hoping you would answer what keystroke allows a
user to get into an applet on a web page, or get out of an applet on a
web page? I'm asking because if someone is disabled, a web app must
perform all function without a mouse and only using a keyboard.

When I go to you sample pages, it is easy to navigate using the
keyboard (using Tab and Shift+Tab) to get to every field in the
applet, but I cannot get out with the keyboard to get to the other
links on the page. If I Alt+Tab to another application and back to
the browser, then the focus is on the links of the web page and I can
navigate to them with Tab and Shift+Tab, but I cannot get into the
applet.

The only way I can find to get into or out of the applet is using the
mouse. How can this be done using *only* the keyboard?"
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.
~ Douglas Adams (born: 1952-03-11 died: 2001-05-11 at age: 49)

 

[Knute Johnson]

I got asked this question about Applet use by blind people. I did not
know the answer.

"One question I was hoping you would answer what keystroke allows a
user to get into an applet on a web page, or get out of an applet on a
web page? I'm asking because if someone is disabled, a web app must
perform all function without a mouse and only using a keyboard.

When I go to you sample pages, it is easy to navigate using the
keyboard (using Tab and Shift+Tab) to get to every field in the
applet, but I cannot get out with the keyboard to get to the other
links on the page. If I Alt+Tab to another application and back to
the browser, then the focus is on the links of the web page and I can
navigate to them with Tab and Shift+Tab, but I cannot get into the
applet.

The only way I can find to get into or out of the applet is using the
mouse. How can this be done using *only* the keyboard?"

On Windows XP and FireFox 3.6 I can't get it to put the focus on an
Applet without clicking on it directly. I've got an Applet, that under
Linux, once I click off of it I can't click back to it at all. I have a
feeling that this is a mess.

 

[John B. Matthews]

On Windows XP and FireFox 3.6 I can't get it to put the focus on an
Applet without clicking on it directly. I've got an Applet, that
under Linux, once I click off of it I can't click back to it at all.
I have a feeling that this is a mess.

Once the applet is focused, the "Reload" and "Back" keyboard shortcuts
work in Safari 4:

<http://www.apple.com/safari/download/>

Of course, now I'm stochastically insulted:

<http://mindprod.com/applet/insult.html>

 

[Andrew Thompson]

.."One question I was hoping you would answer what keystroke allows a
user to get into an applet on a web page, or get out of an applet on a
web page?  ...

Applet focus has always been a mess. To my knowledge,
Sun never defined what should happen with applet focus
and keyboard traversal, so whatever the browser maker
feels is appropriate, is 'correct'.

My experience has been:
- On Windows with some JREs - the applet* got automatic
focus and you needed to click somewhere else in the
page to get focus to any HTML elements (or use the
'back' button etc.)
- On windows with other JREs, the focus is left on the
first focusable HTML element in the page, and the applet
never gained the focus when cycling through the focusable
elements.
- On Ubuntu Linux with a Java 6 JRE, using Google Chrome
or FireFox, the applet grabs the focus, and when you get
to the last focusable element in the applet, the focus
jumps to the focusable HTML elements. But on the
second & subsequent passes through the focus cycle, the
applet does *not* regain focus. The Ubuntu experience,
while being better than anything I tried on Windows,
is still not ideal.

* Of course, if there were multiple applets in a web
page, that complicates matters, some JRE/User Agent
combos. will put the focus to the first applet listed
in the page. Other JRE/UA combos. will apply focus to
the first that has finished loading, still other JRE/UA
combos. will provide the focus to the *last* applet to
finish loading!

The only *possible solution* to this mess that I can
think of, is not going to be something you would like
to hear. I reckon the best chance of getting the
applet inserted into the normal page focus cycle,
would be to use *JavaScript* to manage the focus.
Note that I have never actually tried it, and I
suspect your might have to change the applets themselves
in order to make it workable.