Define area navigation key command and behavior

[mcking65]

There are multiple patterns that would benefit from a recommended convention for a keyboard command to navigate among areas or sections of a page:

• Moving focus in/out of and among open non-modal dialogs, including tooltip dialogs (issues Draft Dialog (non-Modal) design pattern #59 Draft tooltip dialog design pattern #85 , and Keyboard method to jump out of NON-modal dialogs? #599)
• Moving focus among resizable areas divided by a window splitter (issue Develop example of window splitter design pattern #130)
• Moving focus in and out of feeds
• Moving focus among landmark regions

The functionality needed for all these patterns is similar. Recommending the same key command for all would:

• Make learning and using the command easier.
• Reduce the complexity of developing a convention given the scarcity of options.

The purpose of this issue is to discuss:

• Pros and cons of merging the needs of these patterns into a single area navigation keyboard command.
• Recommended behaviors.
• Key assignment.

Starting proposal

Key assignments

1. Ctrl+F6 or Cmd+F6: Move focus to next area
2. Shift+Ctrl+F6 or Shift+Cmd+F6: Move focus to previous area
3. Alt+F6 or Option+F6: Move focus to first element in current area
4. Shift+alt+F6 or Shift+Option+F6: Move focus to first area

Types of areas

Areas may be a:

• Landmark region
• Non-modal dialog
• Feed
• Other type of author-defined container that calls for efficient context switching

Design Recommendations

• Include landmark regions in the area navigation sequence.
• When moving focus to a landmark region or feed for the first time, if the first element is interactive, place focus on that element. Otherwise focus the entire region.
• When moving focus into a non-modal dialog for the first time, follow the modal dialog guidance for where to place focus.
• If it would facilitate usability, when focus moves into an area, focus the element that last had focus in that area.

Note that utility of the area navigation sequence can be negatively impacted if it is too long. On a typical page, six to eight elements is likely a suitable upper limit.