[IxDA Discuss] usability of tab focus

[Simon Asselbergs]

> >> Should all fields  using tabfocus events, or only the most used input
> pattern? What is the best practice?
> 
> Have Tab index for all fields, for following reasons:
> 
> 1. The users who use tab are going to ofcourse rely on keyboards , hence
> having tab index for selected fields would require them to change input
> devices in case any other field has ot be selected, this breaks flow. You
> can take this oportuity to rationalize the form and may be remove fields
> that are there for wrong reasons

It is not that the users rely only on keyboard, they also have a mouse. I can't narrow down the number of fields in this case. There are also fields that edit a table, such as Male, Female, Unknown. This will almost never need to be editted. But these must be present on the form. If you have all fields tabindexed, it becomes 26 [Tab]-key clicks. 

The user where the application is targeted at is not a consumer, but an employee. They have to be able to have fast input times for their most regular input patterns. So I thought if reducing the number of fields is not an option, than excluding seldom used fields fomr the tab focus is.


> 2. It makes the form unpredictable, as they would not know what next tab
> index would do

True, but that is a problem that could be fixed easily with visual aids.


> 3. Non-sighted users cannot use pointing device like mouse, but rely on
> devices like keyboard,they would have no way to access other form fields.
 
The application already doesn't take care of Non-sighted users. They aren't included in our target group.

Has anyone have experience with the same kind of situation?

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