1817911 - Implement a consistent and expected keyboard navigation for the unified toolbar

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Toolbars and Tabs, task, P2)

Description

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Thanks to the work on this method we have a good F6 focus cycle in the mail Tab.

In the unified toolbar, the focus lands on the search bar if present, otherwise it searches the first available button.

At this moment, pressing TAB moves the focus to the next available widget, or moves tot he folder pane if none are left.
We should define and improve this behaviour and create expected stops and a navigation aids.

Proposal

If the focus is on the Search Bar:

• Pressing TAB should move the focus to the first button after the search bar.
• Pressing TAB again should move the focus to the App Menu.
• If not buttons are available after the search bar, the focus should move the App Menu (we always have an App Menu).

If the focus is on the Search Bar:

• Pressing SHIFT+TAB should move the focus to the first button BEFORE the search bar.
• Pressing SHIFT+TAB again should move the focus to the first button of the spaces toolbar, or the spaces pin button.
• If there are no buttons before the search bar, the focus is moved directly to the spaces toolbar, or the spaces pin button.

When the focus is on one of the buttons:

• Pressing ArrowRight or ArrowLeft will cycle the focus on those buttons without breaking outside.

Comment 1

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Add [Supernova] to Whiteboard 20230222_1327

Comment 2

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Alex, do you envision this to be post 115 work?

Comment 3

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Hard to say, probably.
We have an initial implementation of toolbar navigation in the message pane header, we need to apply the same approach on all other toolbars.
It could happen this month.

Comment 5

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

We started implementing the toolbar navigation pattern in some areas.
We should extract those implementation and create a reusable component to apply here.

The unified toolbar is a bit more unique and it needs a bit more fine tuning to properly identify the toolbar navigation areas.

Comment 6

[Martin Giger [:freaktechnik]]

Attachment: Bug 1817911 - Add local keyboard navigation to unified toolbar. r=#thunderbird-front-end-reviewers

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/cffd98d55488
Add local keyboard navigation to unified toolbar. r=aleca

Comment 8

[Martin Giger [:freaktechnik]]

Comment on attachment 9339602 [details]
Bug 1817911 - Add local keyboard navigation to unified toolbar. r=#thunderbird-front-end-reviewers

[Approval Request Comment]
Regression caused by (bug #):
User impact if declined: Every active button in the unified toolbar has to be cycled through with tab
Testing completed (on c-c, etc.): Manual testing
Risk to taking this patch (and alternatives if risky): This is a fairly complicated patch, though all it should affect is the keyboard focusability of things in the unified toolbar. So maybe barely low?

Comment 9

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Comment on attachment 9339602 [details]
Bug 1817911 - Add local keyboard navigation to unified toolbar. r=#thunderbird-front-end-reviewers

[Triage Comment]
approved for beta

Comment 10

[Daniel Darnell [:dandarnell]]

Thunderbird 115.0b5:
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-beta/rev/d4164f816d78

Comment 11

[Martin Giger [:freaktechnik]]

Closing here for now, will file a follow up to split the navigation into two groups.