2. Deconstructing the Mouse
The mouse is designed to allow a user to direct a point of interaction within the content they are reviewing, and also initiate interactive content at their discretion.
All of this action must be broken down into the discreet activities that are automatically performed by the user. :
· Review Content – optical recognition/review (requires screen reader)
· Select Content – requires focus indicator and appropriate key for content type
· Activate Content – once content has been selected, the ability to initiate an action with the selection must also be available.
It is especially important to notice the separation of “Selecting” and “Activating” content.
Because the mouse allows a person to seamlessly integrate the visual review, selection, and activation of content with a simple click, it is easy to create problems for keyboard users when people design content to interact with the mouse.
Recognizing the specific behaviors for content and mouse interactions provides a framework for designing interactive content that provides the same capability for people using a keyboard.
Understanding the expected interaction patterns for different content allows us to review digital content with a consistent metric and success criteria, as defined in the WCAG.