I don't think that pressing enter to submit is an accessibility issue
at all, it's simply expected behaviour. If people are used to being
able to do that in their browser then it should not be forced or
suppressed in any way.
Keyboard only users is an interesting one... so if the person is a
keyboard user out of choice (as in they prefer to use the keyboard for
ease of use) they might well be using a setup where it's not possible
to highlight the submit button to submit it. Someone who is using the
keyboard only because they have difficulty with a mouse is unlikely to
have that problem as they'd choose a setup which allows them to do that.
As for putting line breaks in the field, as far as I know no browsers
will submit a form when you press enter on a textarea, and as <input
type="field" />'s are only one line, they surely wouldn't expect to be
able to put a line break there anyway.
I actually publish a blog post on a very similar topic (although not
so focussed on the accessibility side of things) yesterday:
http://www.norestfortheweekend.com/2009/10/20/on-forms-submit-buttons-and-browsers/
I hope you find it interesting!
Mark
On 21 Oct 2009, at 04:39, Chris Vickery wrote:
Thanks Jason,
In this case it’s for an input field, not a textarea, and enter will
still not submit (unless you tab out) so in this case makes it
contrary to ‘native browser behaviour’.
Essentially our input fields would, (although they identify
themselves as input fields) would behave like textareas, without
line breaks.
I’m not really familiar with using a text to speech reader, but that
sounds messy to me. Interestingly the source itself looks pretty
straight forward:
<div id="abc-form" class="form">
<form name="abcform" id="abcform" method="post" action="" >
<input type="text" name="abcform[email1]" value="" id="email1"
class="text" /><input type="submit" name="form[subscribebutton1]"
value="Subscribe" id="subscribebutton1" />
</form>
</div>
There must be something buried in the styling causing this behaviour.
Chris
From: li...@webstandardsgroup.org
[mailto:li...@webstandardsgroup.org] On Behalf Of ja...@flexewebs.com
Sent: Wednesday, 21 October 2009 11:03 AM
To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org
Subject: Re: [WSG] Is pressing Enter to submit (or not) on forms an
accessability issue? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Hi Chris,
The submission by pressing enter is a native browser behaviour,
hence is not an accessibility issue.
You will only be able to submit via enter from an input field and
not from a textarea, which you have to tab out of and then hit enter.
So I doubt you will find any references to back-up your claim. If
you do, send it through so we can debunk it. :-D
Best,
Jason
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
From: "Chris Vickery" <chris.vick...@privacy.gov.au>
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:20:51 +1100
To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org<wsg@webstandardsgroup.org>
Subject: [WSG] Is pressing Enter to submit (or not) on forms an
accessability issue? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
We’re accessibility testing at the moment. We’ve got some email
forms (ie. Put in your email address to subscribe -> submit) that do
not currently submit if you press enter.
Personally I feel this should be an accessibility issue, but I am
finding it difficult to locate any solid documentation to back up my
claim. I’ve had the argument put to me that a keyboard only user
could still tab to the submit button, then press enter, but this
seems very unintuitive to me to force users to do this.
I’ve also had put to me that some users get confused if they want to
put line breaks in a field and submit by accident... and so to be
consistent pressing enter should never submit a form. (data entry
people would love that one :P)
Is submitting by pressing enter from a form best practice, or just
common practice? Is it an accessibility problem? ... and to what
degree?
***********************************************************************
WARNING: The information contained in this email may be confidential.
If you are not the intended recipient, any use or copying of any part
of this information is unauthorised. If you have received this email
in
error, we apologise for any inconvenience and request that you notify
the sender immediately and delete all copies of this email, together
with any attachments.
***********************************************************************
*******************************************************************
List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm
Help: memberh...@webstandardsgroup.org
*******************************************************************
*******************************************************************
List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm
Help: memberh...@webstandardsgroup.org
*******************************************************************
***********************************************************************
WARNING: The information contained in this email may be confidential.
If you are not the intended recipient, any use or copying of any part
of this information is unauthorised. If you have received this email
in
error, we apologise for any inconvenience and request that you notify
the sender immediately and delete all copies of this email, together
with any attachments.
***********************************************************************
*******************************************************************
List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm
Help: memberh...@webstandardsgroup.org
*******************************************************************
*******************************************************************
List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm
Help: memberh...@webstandardsgroup.org
*******************************************************************
